THE ANTIQUARY'S BOOKS
GENERAL EDITOR: J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
THE GRKEXDALE OAK
(1720)
HE ROYAL FORESTS
OF ENGLAND
BY
Jp°CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
WITH FIFTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
Published in
THIS ATTEMPT TO DELINEATE SOME OF
THE MAIN FEATURES OF
THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
IS DEDICATED
WITH MUCH ADMIRATION AND RESPECT TO
RICHARD HISCO WHITWORTH
CHAPLAIN OF NEWSTEAD PRIORY
AND FOR
FORTY YEARS VICAR OF BLIDWORTH
IN RECOGNITION OF
THE REMARKABLE GRIP THAT HE HAS OBTAINED
OVER THE FOREST-LORE OF SHERWOOD
AND OF HIS SKILL
AS A MODERN BALLAD-WRITER
ON THE
OLD ROMANTIC LINES
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. EARLY FORESTS . . . . i
II. THE FOREST COURTS . . . . . • 10
III. THE FOREST OFFICERS . . . . 17
IV. THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST . . . 25
V. THE FOREST AGISTMENTS . . -41
VI. HOUNDS AND HUNTING . . . . -47
VII. THE TREES OF THE FOREST . . . .68
VIII. LATER FOREST HISTORY . . . -76
IX. THE FORESTS OF NORTHUMBERLAND, CUMBERLAND,
WESTMORELAND, AND DURHAM . . -87
X. THE FORESTS OF LANCASHIRE . . . .98
XI. THE FORESTS OF YORKSHIRE — PICKERING AND GALTRES 107
XII. THE FORESTS OF CHESHIRE .... 131
XIII. THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE . . . 137
XIV. THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK . . .150
XV. DUFFIELD FRITH . . . . .181
XVI. SHERWOOD FOREST ..... 204
XVII. THE FORESTS OF SHROPSHIRE, WORCESTER, WARWICK,
AND HEREFORD ..... 223
XVIII. THE FORESTS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND . 231
XIX. THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM .... 237
XX. THE FOREST OF OXFORDSHIRE .... 257
XXI. THE FORESTS OF BERKSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, AND
HUNTINGDONSHIRE ..... 266
XXII. THE FOREST OF DEAN ..... 274
XXIII. THE FOREST OF ESSEX ..... 283
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XXIV. THE FOREST OF WINDSOR .... 287
XXV. THE FORESTS OF SUSSEX .... 301
XXVI. THE FORESTS OF HAMPSHIRE .... 304
XXVII. THE FORESTS OF WILTS . . . . 313
XXVIII. THE FORESTS OF DORSETSHIRE . . . 330
XXIX. THE FORESTS OF SOMERSETSHIRE . . . 333
XXX. THE FOREST OF DARTMOOR .... 340
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
PAGE
Verderer's Slab, Bakewell . . . . . . 17
J. Charles Wall.
Verderer's Slab, Chelmorton . . . . . . 18
J. Charles Wall.
Forester's Slab, Wirksworth . . . 18
J. Charles Wall.
Forester's Slab, Bakewell . . . ... 19
J. Charles Wall.
Forester's Slab, Hope . . . . ... 19
J. Charles Wall.
Forester's Slab, Hope . . . . ... 21
J. Charles Wall.
Forester's Slab, Papplewick . . . . . . 21
J. Charles Wall.
Woodward's Slab, Newcastle-on-Tyne . . ... 23
J. Charles Wall.
Woodward's Slab, Papplewick . . . ... 23
J Charles Wall.
Hunting Dog's . . . . ... 51
Berners or Harbourers . . . . • • • 55
Wyrall Effigy . . . . . ... 66
Wyrall Effigy . . . . . ... 67
Deer Hunters of Cranborne Chase . . ... 83
V. M. M. Cox.
Hunting Costume, Seventeenth Century . . ... 89
Chief Forester's Slab, Durham . . . ... 97
J. Charles Wall.
Hunting Costume, Thirteenth Century . . ... 182
Letters in Centre of Oak . . . . . . 221
Hunting Costume, Fourteenth Century . . ... 238
Cattle Brands, Essex Forest . . . ... 285
The Hart (Turbervile) . . . . ... 298
King and Queen Oaks, New Forest . . ... 308
M. E. Purser.
The Hare (Turbervile) . . . . i. . . 334
LIST OF PLATES
The Greendale Oak ....
From Strutt's Sylva Jiritannica, 1826.
I. The King- Hunting- (i) .
Brit. Mus. MSS., Royal 10 E. iv., ff. 253-4.
II. The King- Hunting (2) ....
Brit. Mus. MSS., Royal 10 E. iv., ff. 255-6.
III. Head of Attachment Court Roll
Accounts Exch. Q. R., >f£, temp. Edw. II.
IV. Red Deer .....
From Gilpin's Forest Scenery, 1791.
V. Wild Boars .....
Brit. Mus. MSS., Add. 27, 699.
VI. Wolf and Sheepfold and Wild Goats
Brit. Mus. MSS., Royal 12 C. xix., ff. 14, 19.
VII. Pigs of the New Forest ....
From Gilpin's Forest Scenery, 1791.
VIII. Netting in Woods and Streams
Brit. Mus. MSS., Cott., Tib. A. vii., f. 51.
IX. The Four Beasts of Venery
X. The Four Beasts of Chase
XI. The Four Beasts of Sport
Plates IX., X., and XI., are from Cott. MSS., Vesf. B. xii.,
ff. i, 2.
XII. Maple Tree, Boldre Churchyard
From Strutt's Sylva Britannica, 1826.
XIII. Straw Helmets and Swindgel of the Deerhunters of
Cranborne Chase ....
V. M. M. Cox.
XIV. Deer Stalking .....
Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 27, 699, ff. 108-9.
XV. Forest Hermit .....
Brit. Mus. MSS., Royal 19 E. iii., f. 133.
Frontispiece
To face page 4
30
32
•P
58
60
62
64
72
1 08
LIST OF PLATES xi
XVI. Berner and Limehound, and Cross-bow Shooting To face page 122
XVII. Dog- Leeching and Rewarding the Hounds . . ,, 140
XVIII. Foxes, Deer in Forest, and Wolves . . ,, 164
Plates XVI., XVII., and XVIII. are from Add. MSS., 27, 699,
ff. 6, 20, 23, 28, 50, 58, 109.
XIX. Sherwood Forester of Fee, Skegby Church . . ,, 204
Photograph from the Rev. H. J. Stamper.
XX. Monument of Thomas Leake, Blidworth Church . ,, 216
Photograph from the Rev. R. H. Whit worth.
XXI. Hay wood Oaks, Blidworth . . ,, 222
Photographs from Rev. R. H. Whitworth.
XXII. Ladies Rabbiting . . . ,, 304
Brit. Mus. MSS., Royal 10 E. iv.
XXIII. The Hill Woods, Lyndhurst . . ,,316
From " The New Forest," Horace G. Hutchinson.
XXIV. A Deer Leap, Wolseley Park . ,, 330
W. Salt, Arch. Soc., vol. v.
PREFACE
COUNTY historians have, as a rule, with but rare ex-
ceptions, either entirely ignored the story of the royal
forests within their confines, or have treated the subject
after the most meagre fashion. Nevertheless, there is abundant
and most interesting material for their history at the Public
Record Office in a mass of documents which are but very
rarely consulted. Occasionally, too, much can be gleaned from
manuscripts at the British Museum, Cambridge University
Library, Guildhall, or Lincoln's Inn, and in a few cases from
rolls or books of forest proceedings in private hands.
If references had been given to every document cited, almost
every page would have bristled with footnotes, involving a
considerable curtailment of the rest of the letterpress. Not
a single statement, however, is made — where no author is cited
— save on the authority of original and contemporary records.
It may be helpful to some to state the chief classes of
documents whence forest lore is to be obtained in the vast
national depository in Chancery Lane.
(1) Placitag Foresta, or Forest Proceedings, Chancery —
John to Charles I. — consisting of presentments, claims, per-
ambulations, etc., before the Justices in Eyre of the Forests.
They are contained in 156 bundles, and an inventory of their
contents will be found in the Dep.-Master of Rolls Reports, v.,
App. ii., 46-56.
(2) Swainmote Court Rolls of Windsor, 2 Edw. VI. to
14 Charles I. Inventory in Report, v., App. ii., 57-9.
PREFACE xiii
(3) Forest Proceedings, Exchequer, Treasury of Receipt,
Henry III. to Charles II. To these documents there are three
volumes of MS. Calendars.
(4) Miscellaneous Books of Exchequer, Treasury of Receipt,
vol. 75, Edw. I.; assarts and wastes in diverse forests, vol. 76;
pleas and presentments of Sherwood, Hen. III. to Edw. III.;
vol. 77, game in all forests north of the Trent, 30 Hen. VIII.
(5) A Book of Orders concerning Royal Forests, 1637-1648.
State Papers, Domestic, Charles I., vol. 384.
(6) Records of Duchy of Lancaster. A great variety of
forest presentments, attachments, perambulations, pleas, etc.,
Hen. III. to James I., pertain to Lancashire, Yorkshire,
Staffordshire, Derbyshire, etc. A printed list of all the Duchy
Records was issued in 1901; those relating to forests are on
pp. 39-47. Among the maps and plans (pp. 76-80) are many
relating to the Forest of the High Peak.
(7) Lists of Minister Accounts, with thorough indexes, were
issued in 1899 ; much royal forest information occurs in many
of these accounts.
(8) Occasionally Court Rolls of Manors, etc., yield informa-
tion ; these also have printed lists and indexes, issued in 1896.
(9) Both Close and Patent Rolls for the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries abound in royal forest incidents; they have been
well calendered (printed) for the greater part of this period.
As to these records, I have a large number of references and
brief extracts — far more than are used in the following pages —
for the different counties, and I would gladly on application
save trouble, if I could, to any genuine worker as to a particular
forest or forests.
With regard to printed books that bear on the subject,
references to the more important will be found in each of the
chapters ; but there are three of such real value on this little
studied subject that they demand special mention.
In 1887, Mr. W. R. Fisher published a 4to volume on
The Forest of Essex: its History, Laws, Administration, and
Ancient Customs, and the Wild Deer which lived in it. The
xiv PREFACE
book owed its origin to the spirited action of the Corporation
of the City of London, in rescuing much of the illegally en-
closed land of Epping Forest ; it is based throughout on
documentary evidence, and illustrates, in many ways, forest
law and procedure in other counties besides Essex.
The documents relative to the Yorkshire Forest of Pickering
are exceptionally voluminous and interesting. They sufficed
to fill four volumes of the new series of the North Riding
Record Society, and were put forth by Mr. R. B. Turton
between 1894-7. I nacl obtained transcripts of many of these
documents in 1890, and made considerable extracts from others
in 1902-3 before I was acquainted with these books. They are
not well arranged, but both transcripts and introductions are
of the greatest value to the forest student, particularly of the
fourteenth century.
In 1901 the Selden Society issued Mr. G. J. Turner's Select
Pleas of the Forest, the one masterly work on English forest
law and procedure, more especially of the thirteenth century.
To this admirable volume these pages are much indebted, and
from it not infrequent quotations have by leave been taken.
I desire also here to gratefully acknowledge the help I have
received from Mr. Turner, outside his published work, and
particularly for his reading the proof of the earlier chapters,
though it is not to be understood that he is responsible for any
statements. It is much to be hoped that Mr. Turner will ere
long produce another book on the later Forest Pleas in the
time of their decadence.
Passing long periods of my earlier life within the bounds of
two old royal forests, Exmoor, Somerset, and Duffield Frith,
Derbyshire, and living subsequently close to the confines of
the Staffordshire forests of Kinver, Cannock, and Needwood,
the subject treated of in these pages has always had for me a
particular fascination. Accidentally meeting in early life with
a copy of that very rare little work, Dryden's edition of L! Art
de Venerie (1843), by William Twici, huntsman to Edward II.,
which is described in chapter vi., made me desire to know
PREFACE xv
more about the subject. Thirty years later I had the good
fortune to make the acquaintance of that rare old antiquary
and sportsman, the late Sir Henry Dryden, Bart. Various
discussions and correspondence on England's forest law and
early hunting led to his desiring me to bring out a new and
extended edition of his valuable little treatise. The project
got deferred, but this book, in which his drawings of hunting
costumes and hounds are reproduced, to some extent fulfils his
wishes.
No one is better aware of the deficiencies of these pages than
the writer. It would have been easy enough to have found
original material sufficient to fill a volume of this size for almost
each of the forests named therein ; in some cases, such as the
Peak Forest, Rockingham, and more especially Sherwood, it
seemed almost sinful to be content with such brief summaries
of a few of the more important facts. Nevertheless, it seemed
best on the whole to condense the entire matter within the
limits (kindly made more elastic in this case) assigned to the
series of "Antiquary's Books." In doing this, certain sections
that had been prepared on such subjects as the Clergy and
Forest Pleas, Historic Trees, Place and Personal Names in
Forest Districts, and a Glossary of Terms had to be abandoned.
In the heartless work of cutting down, by more than one half,
the material prepared for the press, as well as in other ways,
I had the timely assistance of my son, Mr. Cuthbert Machell
Cox.
It might be well for the reader interested in any particular
forest or shire to recollect that illustrations of any special topic
treated of in the opening chapters are not, as a rule, repeated
subsequently ; reference to the index will often supplement
, information given under the chapter on a definite shire. It is
hoped, too, that the index will serve as a glossary, as each
forest term used is explained once or oftener in the text.
The absence of any reference to the counties of Bedford,
Cambridge, Cornwall, Hertford, Lincoln, Middlesex, Mon-
mouth, Norfolk, and Suffolk, arises from the fact that there is
XVI
PREFACE
practically no information with regard to any royal forests
within their confines.
If these pages arouse greater interest in the much neglected
story of England's royal forests, it will be an abundant reward
for no small amount of time and trouble expended on record
searching and on general reading in the pursuit of a subject
that was at one time so widely developed, and had so great an
influence on our social and economic life.
J. CHARLES COX
ST. ALBANS, SYDENHAM
July, 1905
THE KOYAL FOEESTS
OF ENGLAND
CHAPTER I
EARLY FORESTS
FOREST," according to the last edition of the Encyclo-
pcedia Britannica, " is a tract of country covered with
trees, of one or several species, or with trees and
underwood." This has become the popularly accepted mean-
ing of the term for several generations, but it is historically
false ; and so far as this volume is concerned, we have to go
back to Manwood's definition as expressed in his Laives of
the Forest (1598), wherein he describes a forest as "a certen
territorie of wooddy grounds and fruitfull pastures, priviledged
for wild beasts and foules of forrest, chase, and warren, to rest
and abide in, in the safe protection of the king, for his princely
delight and pleasure."
But even Manwood, and others who have followed him, are
not correct in assuming that the term originally, or of necessity,
implied woody grounds or natural woodland. Dr. Wedgwood
seems to be right in considering "forest" as a modified form
of the Welsh gores, gorest, waste, waste ground ; whence the
English word gorse, furze, the growth of waste land. Others
consider its derivation to be from the Latin forts, out of doors,
the unenclosed open land. From the fact that so many wastes
were covered with wood or undergrowth, it gradually came
about that the term "forest " was applied to a great wood.
Perhaps the following definition is as accurate a one as can
B
2 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
be given in a few words, of what used to be understood by
the English term "forest" in Norman, Plantagenet, and early
Tudor days. A forest was a portion of territory consisting of
extensive waste lands, and including a certain amount of both
woodland and pasture, circumscribed by defined metes and
bounds, within which the right of hunting was reserved ex-
clusively to the king, and which was subject to a special code
of laws administered by local as well as central ministers.
Had the true meaning of the old term "forest" been grasped,
much waste of learning, and of vain strivings to prove that
such barren tracts as by far the greater part of the forests of
Dartmoor, of Exmoor, and of the High Peak, or even of the
larger portion of the New Forest were wood-covered in historic
times, might have been spared.
A chase was, like a forest, unenclosed and only defined by
metes and bounds, but could be held by a subject. Offences
committed therein were, as a rule, punishable by the Common
Law and not by forest jurisdiction, though swainmotes were
sometimes held therein, proving that they had originally been
royal forests. The terms "chase" and "forest" were occasion-
ally used interchangeably, owing to a chase having been secured
by the Crown, or the Crown having granted a royal forest to
a subject.
A park was an enclosure, fenced off by pales or a wall. In
certain forests there were various parks, as in Dufifield Frith,
and Needwood, and Sherwood ; and in most, at least one
or two ; but many parks were held throughout the country
by subjects under Crown licence, altogether apart from forests.
Forest law prevailed in parks within a forest, but not in those
outside such limits. An Elizabethan estimate, of doubtful
value, states that the old royal forests were sixty-nine in
number, and that there were in addition thirteen chases and
more than seven hundred parks.
The term "warren" also requires brief discussion. The public
had a right to hunt wild animals in any unenclosed land
outside forest limits, unless such right had been restricted by
some special royal grant. The word "warren" — the subject is
ably treated by Mr. Turner (Forest Pleas, cxxiii.-cxxxiv.) — was
used to denote either the exclusive right of hunting and taking
certain beasts (ferce natures} in a particular place, or the land
EARLY FORESTS 3
over which such right existed. Grants of free-warren over
demesne lands outside forests, so frequently made by our earlier
kings both to religious foundations and to private individuals,
prevented anyone entering on such lands to hunt or to take
anything belonging to the warren without the owner's licence,
under the great penalty of £10. No one might, therefore,
follow the hunt of a hare or of a fox or other vermin into
warrenable land ; but following the hunt of deer into such
land was held to be no trespass, as deer were not beasts of the
warren. Lords of warrens had the power of impounding the
greyhounds or other dogs, and the nets and snares of tres-
passers.
In the consideration of England's old forests, it is well to
remember that subjects from time to time, in different shires,
were seized of lands within forest bounds ; but, when that was
the case, they were not allowed on such lands the right of
hunting, or of cutting trees, or of high fence making, or of
doing anything which could be interpreted as detrimental to
the deer, save by special grant from the Crown.
It has been pointed out by Mr. Turner that the history of
English forests divides itself into three periods, namely, from
the earliest times up to 1217, when the Charter of the Forest
of Henry III. was granted ; from that date up to 1301, when
large tracts were disafforested by Edward I. ; and thirdly, from
1301 up to the present day.
As to the story of the forests in the first of these periods, it
must largely partake of the nature of conjecture based upon
subsequent knowledge.
As the Romans gradually made themselves masters of
England, they must have destroyed much of the vast extent
of woods that gave shelter to the British tribes. This work
of destruction — begun in the later prehistoric stage — was
accelerated by two other causes, apart from military reasons ;
wooded districts were cleared in order to use the richer tracts
for tillage and pasturage ; whilst the greater attention paid to
iron and lead smelting led to a steady diminution in timber
through the demands for fuel.
The Saxons made further development of iron smelting
works. This gradual clearance of the natural woods, coupled
with enclosures of land round homesteads and settlements,
4 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
drove back the deer and other game into the depths of the
woods and the more desolate districts.
These wilder tracts were used as common hunting grounds ;
but in course of time the chieftains and more powerful local
men usurped the rights hitherto exercised by all. Eventually,
as the Saxon overlords or kings gained greater power, they
claimed, as part of their royal prerogative, the right to reserve
the' chase, or at all events the higher chase of the deer, in
selected areas chosen for their nearness to favourite residences,
or for the exceptional predominance of game. The royal
hunting grounds (silva regis) as well as the king's lands or
royal demesnes (terra regis) were gradually formed out of
the original folkland held by the common people under their
thegn ; so that when Egbert, in the ninth century, became the
first king of all England, he found himself possessed of many
royal hunting grounds in most parts of his kingdom.
During the later Saxon and Danish period the chase became
more and more restricted. The freeholder still had the right
to kill the big game on his own land, but might not follow it
into or upon the king's woods. The lesser game could, how-
ever, be then followed even in the king's woods by the holder
of the land, up to the time of the Conquest.
In this, as in so many other respects, the mention of forests or
woods in Domesday Survey is merely incidental. The name
of swainmote, as applied to a minor forest court of local
administration, which so long survived and was of such
general use, is in itself sufficient to establish the fact that there
was a pre-Norman customary forest law. The question as to the
first introduction of a body of written forest law in this country
depends largely upon the genuineness of the code usually
attributed to Canute, and termed Constitutiones de Foresta.
This Latin code, in thirty-four brief chapters, purports to have
been drawn up by Canute both for the English and the Danes.
Although its authenticity was long ago doubted by Coke, it
has been quoted by many able writers, such as Palgrave and
Kemble, without the expression of any doubt as to it being a
genuine historic document ; but Professor Freeman and
Bishop Stubbs subsequently adduced such weighty reasons for
considering this code a forgery, or at all events containing so
many interpolations as to be valueless, that present-day
PLATE I
THE KING HUNTING (1)
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY;
EARLY FORESTS 5
scholars are almost unanimous in rejecting it. The best
defence of it is to be found in Mr. Fisher's Forest of Essex.
On the whole, it seems probable that this Latin code has a
certain value in showing the general drift and tendency of
Anglo-Danish forest law; but that its worth has been vitiated
by being dressed up at the hands of some Norman scribe, with
the object of lessening the hostility to the severity of the forest
laws introduced by the Conqueror.
The Conqueror acquired, by right of conquest, not only the
demesne lands of the Confessor and of the nobles who had
opposed him, but also all the rights of the chase over great
woodland or open stretches of both cultivated and unculti-
vated ground, where royal hunting rights had previously
been exercised by Saxon or Danish kings. With William
and his immediate successors the chase was a passion, and
hence a code of singularly harsh and burdensome "forest"
laws soon came into operation. The Conqueror took advan-
tage of the autocratic position secured to him and his followers
by their military success, to carry out "afforestation" not
only over the restricted areas that had been the hunting
grounds of his predecessors on the throne, but over almost
all the old folkland that remained unenclosed. The term
"forest," that had been long in like use on parts of the
Continent, was then introduced into England, and made to
embrace vast districts, which included woodlands and wild
wastes of moor, as well as patches of cultivated land. With-
in these afforested tracts, he decreed that the right of hunt-
ing was vested solely in the Crown, and could only be
exercised by the king, or by those who were specially
privileged under royal licence to share in it. The feudal
idea about all wild animals, however monstrous and harsh
in operation, possessed a rough logical basis. It was argued
that all such animals were dona vacantia, or ownerless pro-
perty, and hence pertained to the king ; that hunting was
essentially the pastime or "game" of kings; and that there-
fore the right of exercising the chase, or taking all kinds of
beasts of venery, belonged solely to the king.
The subsequent Norman kings added more or less largely
to the "forest" districts of England, making even whole
counties subject to this exceptional jurisdiction — as, for instance,
6 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Essex and Surrey. The complaints of the hardships caused
by this autocratic proceeding gradually gained strength.
Certain disafforestations were made even by Henry II. ; but
in 1215 John was compelled to agree, by one of the articles
of Magna Charta, to the disafforesting of all the great tracts
of country which had been made forest during his own reign.
Soon after this, in 1217, the child-king Henry was made
to issue the Charter of the Forest, in consideration of a grant
of one-fifteenth of all movables of the whole kingdom. By
this instrument it was provided that all forests, which
Henry II. had afforested, should be viewed by good and
lawful men ; and that all that had been made forest, other
than his own royal demesne, was forthwith to be disafforested.
In accordance with this charter special perambulations were
ordered to be made before March, 1224-5, by twelve knights
elected for the purpose.
There is much confusion among both national and local
historians as to the number and extent of England's forests
at this period ; and certain of our State documents appear to
be somewhat contradictory. Fortunately, however, a great
gale, that affected almost the whole of England towards the
close of the year 1222, was the incidental cause of furnishing
the longest extant list, of an early date, of England's royal
forests. The windfall was so considerable, that Henry III.
issued orders to the forest officials not to interfere with any
of the prostrate trees or broken branches until further orders,
and at once to proceed to draw up a careful valuation of their
worth. Letters to this effect were despatched to —
Viridariis et forestariis de feodo de foresta de Dene, Nova
Foresta, Brikestok, Braden, Rokingham, Lye, Brehull
(Bucks), Galteriz, Windlesore, inter Usam et Derewentem,
Huntindonie, Shirewud, Rotelande, Clive (Northants), Brun-
ningemor (Berks), Cumberland, Penber (Hants), comitatus
Leicestrie, Clay (Salop), Lya (Salop), Melkesham and Chipe-
ham, Get, Savernac (Wilts), Northumberland, Lancastria,
Salopa, Kenefer, Canoe, Alrewas, Hopwas, Kenillewurth
(haia et parco), Selewud, Nerechirch (Somerset), Graveling,
Gillingeham, Pikering, Porcestre, Essexie, Wichewud, Axis-
holt, Notingham, and Periton (parco).
At the same time, like injunctions were forwarded to the
EARLY FORESTS 7
keepers of each of these forests. On 3Oth January, 1223, the
king instructed the sheriffs of all the counties containing
forests to place the money accruing from the sale of the wind-
fall in some religious house within their jurisdiction, there to
await further orders, and to place with it a roll giving full
particulars of the sales, drawn up by a specially appointed
clerk named in the letters patent.
The heading to these instructions on the Patent and Close
Rolls of Henry III. is De Cableicio. The term cableicium, or
cablicium signifies windfallen trees, and corresponds to the
old French word chablis, which had a like meaning. It is
quite clear that the term "cablish" (to use the English form),
strictly speaking, implies uprooted trees, as distinct from
mere branches. The forest officials, after the great gale,
were ordered to remove nothing, nee de cableicio illo neque
de branchura per impulsionem venti prostrata. Nevertheless,
the word was occasionally given a wider meaning — as, for
instance, in 1223, when cableicium was applied to twelve
great branches that had fallen in Windsor forest. But in
this case the wood was sufficiently substantial to be reserved
for the repair of the king's houses. Cablish seems never
to have been applied to such windstrewn wood as would be
used for fuel. We have met with the word in several forest
rolls or records in Northamptonshire, Rutland, Hampshire,
and Derbyshire as late as the time of Henry VII. ; though at
that period the English word rote/alien, or rootefaler, was more
usual as descriptive of the tree uprooted by the wind, and was
used in distinction to the mere wyndfallen wood of smaller
dimensions.
Other forests that occur in the Patent and Close Rolls of the
earlier years of Henry III., which are not specifically named
in the great storm order of 1222, are: Alnwick, Northumber-
land; Easingwold and Wakefield, Yorks; Clipston and Silver-
ston, Northants ; Acornbury and Kilpeck, Hereford ; Peak
Forest and Horston, Derbyshire ; Alveston, Furches, Keyne-
sham, and Horewood, Gloucester ; Feckenham, Worcester ;
Cheddar and Selwood, Somerset ; Freemantle, Hants ; Buck-
holt, Clarendon, Ifwood, Sugrave, and Weybridge, Wilts ;
Poorstock, Dorset ; Finmere and Woodstock, Oxon ; and
Havering, Essex.
8 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Edward I. in some cases broke the Forest Charter under
legal quibbles ; but he did not, in general, desire that the
boundaries of the forest as settled by his father, should be
disturbed. Towards the end of his reign, however, strong
political pressure induced him to consent to further dis-
afforesting. The Forest Charter was confirmed in 1297, but
further perambulations were undertaken between that date and
1301, by which large reductions were made in the forest area.
It would have caused general disturbance to the industries
of the country, if the pursuit of special occupations pertaining
to the soil had been prohibited within the very wide areas of
the forests. Such industries were allowed to be followed under
particular restrictions, and were worked, as a rule, for the profit
of the crown. The most important of these was the question
of iron smelting, particularly as the forges consumed so large
an amount of wood or charcoal. Grants were made from the
crown for permission to have itinerant forges. Such forges
abounded in the Forest of Dean, and were also met with in the
forests of Sussex, Duffield, Sherwood, Pickering, etc.
Henry III., in 1231, granted this liberty (forgia itinerans)
to Mabel de Cantilupe for life in Dean Forest. The grant
states this was in accordance with a custom sanctioned by
John and other of the king's royal ancestors. Another grant
of the following year provided that the lady might have an
oak on each of any fifteen days she chose, every year as long
as she lived, for the support of this forge.
The symbol of a man who was entitled to use an itinerant
forge seems to have been a pair of bellows. This symbol is
to be found on two early incised slabs in the church of
Papplewick, Sherwood Forest.
In some cases there were permanent forges of some size,
belonging to the crown, within the forest bounds ; of this
there were two instances in Duffield Frith.
In the Helper ward of Duffield Frith there was considerable
surface coal mining ; on Dartmoor and Exmoor there were
particular regulations affecting the procuring of peat ; whilst
in other forests the quarrying of stone for building purposes,
for millstones and for tombstones, as well as the burning of
lime and digging of marl were pursued, but in all cases with
due regard for the non-disturbance of the deer. Such callings
PLATE II
THE KING HUNTING (2)
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY)
EARLY FORESTS 9
were confined to particular sites, as far as possible on the
fringes of the forest.
The following of trades that were obviously detrimental to
the deer, through odour or otherwise, such as the tanning of
hides, were rigorously prohibited within forest bounds.
"Purlieu," strictly speaking, was all that ground near any
forest which had originally been forest by perambulation of
Henry II., Richard I., or John, but had been severed by the
Forest Charter of Henry III. Round some forests the purlieus
were of considerable extent. As a rule, the purlieu man had
certain forest agistment and other rights, but of considerable
less value than the actual forest tenant ; in return for this he
was subject to a modified form of forest law, the chief of which
was the non-disturbance of deer that he might find among his
crops. The tenants on the outskirts of Galtres forest, Yorks,
and of Duffield Frith, Derbyshire, were termed "bounderers";
they had certain privileges as well as obligations.
The purlieu custom varied much in different districts and
passed under various local terms. Such were the Wynlands,
or Wydelands, of the Peak, and the Venville of Dartmoor.
Cran borne Chase, which was nearly identical with a forest,
had its well-defined Inbounds and Outbounds. The old name
of Out-woods is not infrequently to be found in the vicinity of
an old forest, as at Duffield, Clarendon, and Kinver ; its use
denotes that the place so called was formerly within the forest
purlieus. The forest of Clarendon had its Inlodges and Out-
lodges.
CHAPTER II
THE FOREST COURTS
THE forest eyre was a court called into being by the
king's letters patent, by which justices were appointed
to hear and determine pleas of the forest throughout a
particular county or groups of counties, or occasionally in the
special area of a county or counties. A short time before
the eyre was held, letters close were directed to the sheriff
relative to its business. By these they were ordered to summon
(i) all dignitaries and other free tenants who had lands or
tenements within the metes of the forest ; (2) the reeve and
four men from every township within the metes ; (3) all
foresters and verderers, both those then in office and those
(or their heirs) who had held such office since the last pleas
of the forest; (4) all those persons who had been "attached"
since the last pleas ; (5) all the regarders ; (6) and all the
agisters. The sheriffs were at the same time directed to see
that the foresters and verderers brought with them all their
attachments or attachment rolls since the last pleas, and that
the regarders brought with them their regards duly sealed,
and the agisters their agistments.
The proper interval between those forest eyres is supposed,
from analogy of eyres for pleas of the Crown and common
pleas, to have been seven years ; but in practice, to the great
inconvenience of all concerned, considering the multiplicity
of business, the intervals were usually much longer, and almost
wholly capricious. For example, Derbyshire affords more
than one instance of intervals exceeding thirty years ; whilst
Pickering yields an instance of an interval of over fifty years,
namely, from 1280-1334.
Every three years a thorough inspection not only of the
woods, but also of every part of the forest, was expected to be
10
THE FOREST COURTS n
made ; this was termed the Regard. The duty of the twelve
or more knights, who were called the Regarders, was to draw
up answers to a long set of interrogatories termed the Chapter,
which covered almost every possible particular as to the con-
dition of the forest demesnes. But the most important function
the regarders discharged was as to the assarts, or enclosures
of waste with or without warrant, and to purprestures, or
encroachments made by the building of houses or the like.
In practice the full formal regard, with its complete roll of
answers, was usually only made shortly before the holding
of each eyre, when the sheriff was ordered by the Crown to
see to the regard being duly performed.
The amount of business that had to be transacted at these
eyres was very considerable, and usually involved repeated
adjournments. The work would have been still greater if
it had not been that a large number of the delinquents
were naturally dead before ever the court was held ; and
that not a few of the former offenders, who had been re-
leased on bail, had passed out of the jurisdiction of the sheriff,
and could not be traced. The proceedings of the court were,
roughly speaking, divided into two parts — the pleas of vert
and the pleas of venison. In both cases the chief object of
the proceedings was the collection of fines and amercements
for breaches of the forest laws, which — contrary to the usual
opinion — had little, if any, trace of the old Norman severity.
In fact, so far was this from being the case, that if a man was
determined to poach venison, he met with far lighter punish-
ment if the offence was committed in a royal forest, than if he
was dealt with by the common or manorial law for a like
offence in a private park. The first forest code (usually cited
as the Assize of Woodstock) was extant in the time of
Henry II. ; it records the severities of his grandfather, when
cruel mutilation and capital punishment, irredeemable by any
^ forfeiture, were among the ordinary penalties ; but all this dis-
appeared in the thirteenth century.
The presence of the reeve and four men from each township
was strictly enforced ; and the fines for total absence, or absence
at the opening of the court, of these and others who were
summoned, were rigorously exacted. The consideration of the
essoins, or excuses for non-attendance, was always the first
12 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
business of the court. It was also usual for juries from the
different hundreds to be summoned ; but their duty, as well
as that of the men from the townships, seems to have been
confined to attesting the truth of any statements affecting their
districts which might appear on the rolls, and to being amerced
for any particular neglect that might be brought to light. As
to any jury proper, at these pleas, for the purpose of pronounc-
ing a verdict on the delinquents, there is no trace ; such
decisions were left entirely in the hands of the justices.
By article nine of the Forest Charter, a man might be
imprisoned for a year and a day ; but in practice, so far as the
eyre was concerned, a fine seems to have been the invariable
judgment of the justices. These fines were so apportioned
to the position and means of the delinquents, that they could,
as a rule, be readily paid ; and there are various instances
in which, after being pronounced "in mercy," they were
excused payment on the ground of poverty. The sheriff was
ordered to arrest those who failed to appear, and sentence of
outlawry was at last pronounced, after the due number of
summons before the county court. The fines imposed on
offending foresters, verderers, or other forest ministers were
rightly of a much heavier character than those imposed on
ordinary offenders.
With regard to the venison pleas, the chief forester was ex-
pected to answer for all manner of venison delivered by
warrant or otherwise since the last eyre. Under these pleas
also came all the presentments for illegal or supposed illegal
venison trespass of every kind, including the receiving of
venison illicitly killed, or the harbouring of known offenders.
The vert pleas dealt with all the charges connected with
damage to timber or underwood, its felling, carrying off, un-
lawful sale, or misappropriation, as well as the grant of "fee"
or gift trees. The question of vert is dealt with more in detail
in the section on forest trees.
In addition to the question of assarts and purprestures,
another important matter always brought before the forest
eyre was the list of claims or privileges by royal grant or
charter, the majority of which were usually held by the
religious houses. Each case had to be duly discussed and
sanctioned, or refused, or curtailed, at each successive eyre.
THE FOREST COURTS 13
There was not a single forest wherein several monasteries
had not particular privileges conferred in early days, and in
some they were very numerous. Over the great stretch of
Peak Forest, Derbyshire, the abbeys of Basingwerk, Beau-
chief, Darley, Dernhall, Dieulacres, Leicester, Lilleshall,
Merivale, Roche, and Welbeck, together with the priories of
Kingsmead, Launde, and Lenton, all had rights. Such rights
referred for the most part to the felling of timber necessary for
their churches and buildings, or their farmsteads and fences,
as well as to the collecting of undergrowth or dead wood for
fuel. The agistment of cattle at certain seasons and the
pannage of swine were granted from time to time ; whilst
venison rights, more particularly in the shape of a tythe of
the deer killed, pertained to some few religious houses. The
tythe of the wild boars killed in Dean Forest went to the abbey
of St. Peter's, Gloucester, and the tythe of the deer hunted in
Pickering Lythe was the perquisite of the abbey of St. Mary's,
York.
In addition to the forest pleas proper, certain special inquisi-
tions as to the condition of the forest and the charges against
trespassers were held by the local officials, but under the
particular justice of the forest or his deputy. Such inquisitions
were probably caused, in the first instance, by the infrequency
of the eyres. By a tiresome confusion, these courts of general
inquisition in latter days are sometimes termed swainmotes,
though they differed as much from the real swainmote as from
the forest pleas.
The swainmote of later times, about which Manwood is
somewhat mistaken, as shown by Mr. Turner, was practically
the same as the attachment court. The two terms, "swainmote"
and "attachment" (and occasionally " woodmote "), are used
interchangeably in later days in various local proceedings of
the same forest, of which full records remain — as, for instance,
in Sherwood, Windsor, Clarendon, and Duffield Frith. At one
and the same time in the fifteenth century, local courts of a like
character were being held in the forests of Windsor and
Northants under the style of swainmotes, in Lancashire and
Sherwood as attachment courts, and in Staffordshire and
Derbyshire as woodmotes. These courts of attachment, if
regularly kept, as ordered by the Forest Charter, met every
i4 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
forty-two days in each of the several bailiwicks or wards into
which a forest was divided, but on different days of the week.
Thus, at Sherwood Forest these courts were held at Linby,
Calverton, Mansfield, and Edwinstowe on Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday respectively in every sixth week ; though
not infrequently they had to adjourn for lack of any business
to transact.
The true swainmote, according to Henry III.'s Charter, was
only to be held three times a year, namely, fifteen days before
Midsummer, when the agisters met to see to the observance
of the fence month ; fifteen days before Michaelmas, when the
agistment of the woods began ; and at Martinmas, when the
agisters met to receive the pannage. But, as has been re-
marked, the name swainmote (the court of the free-forest tenant
of Saxon origin) became in later times a usual alias for the
attachment court.
The Attachment, or Forty-day Court, as it was sometimes
termed, was so called because its object was to receive the
attachment of the foresters or woodwards, and to enter them on
the verderers' rolls. The legal term "attachment" (differing
from "arrest," which only applied to the body) had a threefold
operation in the forest as at common law ; a man might be
attached by (i) his goods and chattels, or (2) by pledges and
mainprize, or (3) by his body. The usual proceeding was that
if the foresters found a man trespassing on the vert they might
attach him by his body, and cause him to find two pledges (or
bail) to appear at the next attachment court. On his appear-
ance at that court he was mainprized (that is, set at liberty
under bail) until the next eyre of the justices. If offending for
a second time, four pledges were held necessary ; if a third
time, eight pledges ; and for a fourth time, imprisonment until
the eyre.
If, however, a man was taken killing the deer or carrying
them away — which was called being taken with the manner, or
mainour, an overt sign such as blood on the hands or clothes —
he could be attached at once by his body, and imprisoned
until delivered on bail by the king, or the justice of the
particular forest, to appear at the next eyre.
Those who lived in the forest, and were taken in the king's
demesnes cutting green wood or saplings, or even gathering
PLATE III
PC Jclrnc .ffcS* Sc <M!mf!1(»p" .u no fiin
fr- P 1 i- f«t-L. •
!VWo gobcr be fStn^lcr tt-1 ti|)rf bnof.itl-Jr ^.f^
SHERWOOD ATTACHMENT ROLL (EDWARD II)
THE FOREST COURTS 15
dry wood from oaks, hazels, or other trees, could be amerced in
the attachment court, unless the damage they had done was
appraised at more than 4^., in which case the delinquent was
to be attached to answer for his offence at the next eyre.
Questions of the escape of cattle or sheep, and any breach of
the particular agistment pannage regulations for the swine,
were also dealt with by this court. When the trespasser was
not a dweller in the forest, the forester or woodward, even in
a vert case, was expected to attach his body and take him to
prison (each forest had its own prison for forest offences), from
which he could be released only by the order of the king, or the
justice of the forest. In the matter of venison, these lesser
courts had not originally any jurisdiction ; but in later times
pledges were often taken for the appearance of such trespassers
at the eyre.
In addition to the general forest inquisition, there were also
special inquisitions dealing with venison trespasses held under
the bailiff of the forest in conjunction with the foresters and
verderers. Several of these are extant of the thirteenth century.
One of the most interesting rules of these special cases pro-
vided that if any beast of the forest was found dead or wounded,
an inquest was to be held by the four neighbouring townships
of the forest. The finder of the deer was to obtain pledges for
his subsequent appearance ; the flesh was to be sent to the
nearest lazar-house, or given to the local sick and poor if there
was not one within reasonable distance ; the head and skin
were to be given to the freeman of the township where it was
found ; and the arrow or other weapon to the verderer, who
had to keep it for production at the next eyre.
Inquests were also held by the four neighbouring townships
in cases of definite forest trespass ; and the bows, arrows, or
snares found upon a trespasser had to be delivered to the
verderer for future production. Owing to such inquests being
sometimes held at the same time as the gathering of a swain-
mote, the rolls of these local courts, if carelessly consulted,
appear to be dealing with venison trespass when such was not
the case.
It must be remembered that these forest inquisitions were
only necessary when a beast of the forest was dead or wounded,
or when an actual trespass had been committed in the forest.
The forest pleas or eyres were usually held in the county
town, but occasionally those summoned had to appear in
another county. This was the case with the delinquents and
officials of Duffield Frith ; that forest was in the honor of
Tutbury, and the pleas were held at that Staffordshire town.
Now and again a special booth or tent was erected to accommo-
date the justices, as was the case in part of Rockingham forest
in the sixteenth century.
The swainmotes sometimes assembled in the open air, but
far oftener in the respective lodges of the different wards, as in
Needwood and Sherwood forests. Charges for the repairs of
the lodges are of frequent occurrence in forest accounts. There
was generally a central court-house or justice seat where special
inquisitions were held, with accommodation if required for the
keeper or chief forester, and with a chapel annexed, as in the
New Forest and the Forest of the Peak. There is a Lancashire
instance of a swainmote being held in a chapel.
CHAPTER III
THE FOREST OFFICERS
THE chief local authority over a forest was the keeper
or warden, who was also variously known as a steward,
bailiff, and chief or master forester. In no two forests
were the terms for the various ministers
exactly similar, and the nomenclature often
varied for the same forest at different periods.
Certain forests, such as those of Cheshire,
were ruled by hereditary wardens or keepers ;
but they were more usually appointed by the
Crown, during pleasure, under letters patent.
This office was often held in conjunction with
that of keeper of the forest castle, as was the
case with the Peak Forest. Writs relative to
the administration of the forest business were
addressed to this chief keeper, as well as
orders for the delivery of venison or wood.
For the most part he was expected to pre-
side personally, or through his deputy or
lieutenant, at the local courts. He had con-
siderable perquisites and privileges, and was
generally allowed to distribute a certain
amount of venison to the county gentlemen
of the district without direct warrant.
The verderers were forest officers directly
responsible to the Crown, although, like
coroners, they were elected by the free-holders
in the county court on writ addressed to the
sheriff. The appointment was considered to
be one for life ; but any verderer could be
removed by the Crown for incapacity, or for
C 17
VKRDERER'S SLAB
TWELFTH CENTURY
Bakewell, Derbyshire
18 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
lack of due property qualification within the forest. The
verderers were always men of some position, and frequently
knights ; they had no salary, and perquisites of any kind
were the exception. They varied in number ; in the smaller
forests there were only two ; four seems to have been the
average, but in Sherwood there were six. It was the verderer's
VERDERER'S SLAB
TWELFTH CENTURY
Chelmorton, Derbyshire
FORESTER'S SLAB
TWELFTH CENTURY
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
duty to view, receive, and enroll all manner of attachments
for vert or venison trespass ; and he had to attend all forest
courts and take the leading part under the steward or keeper
at the swainmotes. In the swainmotes, the verderers were the
judges in all vert cases of the value of 2cl. or under ; this was
afterwards raised to 4^.
The verderer's symbol of office was an axe. In several
forests, as in Duffield, there was a chief verderer, styled the
THE FOREST OFFICERS
axe-bearer, appointed directly by the Crown, and the recipient
of certain perquisites.
Foresters were officers sworn to preserve the vert and venison
in their own divisions, or walks, or wards, which were some-
times termed bailiwicks. They had to "attach" offenders, and
FORESTER'S SLAB
THIRTEENTH CENTURY
Bakewell, Derbyshire
} cnrt.ii
FORESTER'S SLAB
THIRTEhNTH CENTURY
Hope, Derbyshire
present them at the forest courts. If they found any man in
the forest with bows and arrows, snares or dogs, they might
arrest and imprison him as if they had actually seen him hunt
or kill the deer. They had to take special care of the deer
during the fence or close month, i.e. the fortnight before and
after Midsummer Day, when the fawns were usually dropped,
and to provide them with deer-browse or tree-clippings in the
20 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
winter. They might not hunt themselves, or even carry a bow,
save under warrant or direct order of the keeper, or when
training the young dogs according to custom. Foresters had
always certain rights of pasturage and pannage, and usually
one or two deer and one or two trees during the year. The
working forester was generally also paid so much the day,
always reckoning seven days to the week, as he was supposed
to be ever on duty.
The foresters of Clarendon, Wilts, eight in number, received
2d. a day each, at the rate of 365 days to the year, includ-
ing all Sundays and holy days. This rate of payment is
mentioned in 1360, and it remained the same in 1483. Two-
pence a day was also the usual wage of the Pickering foresters.
Occasionally foresters were appointed by letters patent of the
Crown ; this was the case with some of the Sherwood foresters,
temp. Edward IV., who received 4^. a day, and were allowed
to act by deputy.
There was often a general or itinerant forester for the whole
area, who had a higher rate of pay, and, as he was mounted,
was frequently called the riding forester. Sometimes the
Crown appointed several such foresters, as did Edward I. for
Peak Forest at the beginning of his reign, calling them
forestarii equitii. In the next century there is record of the
Crown appointment of a chief forester for the same district at
the very high wage of i2d. a day. Such an officer as this
was, at a later period, known in various forests under the
name of bow-bearer, from having the right always to carry
a bow, personally or at the hands of his attendant. To this
office special perquisites were usually attached, and eventually
the duties were almost entirely honorary, save that he had to
wait upon the king, and regulate the royal hunting, when he
came to a particular forest.
Strictly speaking, the symbol of a royal or chief forester
was a bow, whereas that of the ordinary forester was a horn.
In several of the larger forests, such as those of Lancashire,
Cheshire, Dean, Sherwood, and Pickering, there were here-
ditary foresters-of-fee. In the Peak Forest, when the question
of their origin came up at forest pleas, they always claimed
to date back to the days of William Peverel. There were
originally four (though afterwards subdivided) for each of the
THE FOREST OFFICERS
21
three great bailiwicks of the Peak Forest, who held certain
bovates of land in serjeanty, discharging their obligations in
one case by hunting wolves, and in the others by some amount
of forest supervision. In two of the three bailiwicks they had
sworn servants or grooms under them. This kind of forester-
ship could be held by women and by clerks, but the duties had
then to be discharged by deputy. The foresters-of-fee were
as Jiiiah vi
FORESTER'S SLAB
THIRTEENTH CENTURY
Hope, Derbyshire
FORESTER'S SLAB
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Papplewick, Notts
bound to attend all courts, even the frequent swainmotes of
their bailiwick, in person or by authorised sworn deputy.
There were usually special perquisites at the time of holding
an eyre. Thus the justices in eyre in 1488 assigned to the
forester of Windsor a beech and a small oak, and to the
forester of the baily of Basilles an oak and a buck.
In the earlier forest days, foresters appear to have been
frequently quartered, in whole or in part, on the tenants within
22 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the bounds. Hence, long after definite wages had become
customary, attempts were made to maintain these boarding
arrangements. These wages in kind for themselves, their
horses, and their dogs, were termed picture, or putre. A case
occurs in the Year Book of Edward III. of a claim of this
kind made by a forester of Inglewood against the abbot of
St. Mary's, York. He claimed food and drink at the table of
the abbot's servants on every Friday, together with the right
to carry away, whenever he pleased, a flagon of the best ale,
two tallow candles, a bushel of oats for his horse, and a loaf
of black bread for his dog.
Special provision was made against this levying of payment
in kind by the foresters or their servants, in the Forest Charter
of 1217. A statute of 25 Edward III. also strictly forbade
4 'the gatheringe of vitailes nor other thing by colour of their
office against anye man's wil within their bayliwick" by all
forest ministers, but at the same time left a loophole for its
continuance by exempting that which was "due of olde right."
Future disputes were a special grievance in the Lancashire
forests, where this charge on the tenants became commuted for
a money payment.
The drink money of the Dartmoor foresters went by the
name of poutura in the thirteenth century.
The position of the woodward of a forest, as distinguished
from a forester, is often misunderstood. The woodward,
though primarily responsible for the actual timber or under-
wood, as the name implies, was also, as a rule, a forester —
that is, he was at the same time responsible for the venison.
To understand their position, it must be remembered that all
the lands within a king's forest were never entirely demesne.
In every forest there were various woods which were private
property ; but they were subject to general forest jurisdiction,
such as the free ingress and egress of the king's game. Nor
could the owners, without the king's licence, do anything
therein, such as clearing away growing timber for cultivation,
building houses or sheds, establishing forges, or burning char-
coal, that might be held to do damage or cause annoyance
to the deer. To look after their rights, such wood owners
were allowed, nay, were required, to have officials termed wood-
wards to guard the king's venison, and therefore they were
THE FOREST OFFICERS
not allowed to act save as sworn servants, taking oath to serve
the king in the matter of venison, and having power to attach
and present.
The symbol of the woodward was a small hatchet or bill-
hook.
In later forest days a kind of chief woodward was sometimes
termed the axe-bearer ; and we find a " sealing axe " mentioned
J-c W*//
WOODWARD'S SLAB
TWELFTH CENTURY
Newcastle-on-Tyne
WOODWARD'S SLAB
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Papplewick, Notts
in later forest accounts of Wiltshire, Worcestershire, and
Yorkshire, which was used for blazoning timber intended to
• be felled.
Agisters were the officers who were chiefly concerned with
the collection of money for the agistment or feeding of cattle
and pigs in the demesne woods or lands of the forest. Beasts
of the plough (for the most part oxen, but occasionally an
inferior breed of horse) were generally allowed such agistment
24 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
under certain restrictions; and pigs, from nth September to
nth November. But each forest had its own peculiarities.
Horse-breeding establishments, or stud farms, were an early
institution in Peak Forest ; whilst cattle were the predominating
feature of Dartmoor. Sheep were usually specially restricted.
Goats were at all times peculiarly disliked by deer, and very
rarely permitted. As a rule, agisters were expected to report
to the verderers, or direct to the swainmote, cases of illegal
agistment, or of escapes of animals into the forest.
Rangers were officials that are not heard of till towards the
end of the fourteenth century ; their duties were originally
confined to seeing that forest law was duly observed in the
outlands or purlieus of the forest. Their office corresponded
in some respects with that of the mounted forester.
The regarders were responsible for the regard or survey of
the forest, which has been already explained. Less than twelve
could not make a certificate of their "view," so more than that
number were generally appointed. When making their regard,
they were to require the presence with them of the foresters
and woodwards. The regarders, or some of them, were ex-
pected to be present at every removing swainmote.
Another class of officers, of which there are many in such
forests as Duffield, were the parkers or keepers of the different
parks. They not infrequently had under them palers, palesters,
or palifers, who were permanently employed to maintain the
pale fences of the parks.
CHAPTER IV
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST
MANWOOD'S Treatise on the Forest Laws, the first
edition of which appeared in 1598, has usually been
accepted, without demur, as giving indisputable details
about the forests of England. Mr. Turner has, however,
rightly pointed out in his recent volume, Select Pleas of the
Forest, that Manwood, writing at the end of the Elizabethan
period, when forest law had for the most part decayed, is
by no means altogether reliable, particularly in those parts
that treat of what constituted beasts of the forest and beasts
of the chase. In such particulars Manwood seems to have
relied on foreign rather than English treatises on hunting,
a fault in which he has been imitated by more than one modern
writer, and also to have confused methods of hunting with
forest legislation.
Manwood declared that there were five beasts of the forest —
the hart, the hind, the hare, the wild boar, and the wolf ; but
this in reality only makes four, for the hart and the hind are
the male and female of the red deer. He then made a second
division, termed the beasts of the chase, which included the
buck and the doe (the male and female of the fallow deer),
the fox, the martin, and the roe. The law, however, made no
distinction of this kind between the red and fallow deer ; both
of them were distinctly beasts of the forest, in any legal or
customary significance of that term.
The truth as to the English beasts of the forest, or king's
game, all of which originally came under the head of venison,
can only be ascertained by a study of the eyre rolls and other
original forest proceedings. It then becomes clear that the
forest beasts numbered four — the red deer, the fallow deer,
the roe, and the wild boar.
25
26 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
The hare has no business to be found in such a list, save
in the single warren of Somerton, within the bounds of the
Somersetshire forest of that name. In no other place is the
hare known to have been preserved by forest laws.
Again, the inclusion by Manwood of the wolf among the
beasts of the forest is absolutely without warrant.
As to beasts of the chase, a term without any legal signifi-
cance, it may be held to include, in addition to the deer, the
wolf, the boar, the hare, the fox, and other vermin, such as the
wild cat, martin, badger, otter, and even in some cases the
squirrel. All that can be meant by this term is, that these
animals were chased and hunted, though after very different
fashions.
In charters of warren, a term already briefly discussed, the
hare was the principal beast. A decision of 1338 placed the
roe among the beasts of the warren ; but it was not a decision
of universal application. The fox, and more especially the
coney or rabbit, were also regarded as beasts of the warren —
that is noxious beasts which were hunted or killed, but not
preserved.
As to fowls of warren, they certainly could not be held to be
noxious. They included the pheasant, the partridge, and the
woodcock, as well as, in certain cases, such birds as the plover,
and even the lark, the capture of which was held to be a
warren trespass. Mr. Turner considers that it is probable that
all birds, taken by snares or hawks within a warren, were held
to be fowls of the warren, and that their capture constituted
a legal trespass.
The one bird that has some claim to be considered a "fowl
of the forest " is the swan.
The RED DEER (cervus elap/ias), the largest of the British
deer, was the chief beast of the forest, and remained so for
a long period in all the wilder districts, such as Dartmoor,
Exmoor, the Peak Forest, Sherwood, and the uplands of
Pickering.
The FALLOW DEER (dama vulgaris), introduced at an early
date into Britain, was more commonly sheltered in parks within
forest bounds. In a few cases both red and fallow deer were
found in the same forest outside parks ; whilst other forests
only sheltered one species. Thus in Derbyshire, down to the
O "
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST
27
time of their disafforestation in the seventeenth century, only
red deer were found in the Peak Forest, and only fallow deer in
Duffield Frith. In the fifteenth century, the fallow deer were far
the most numerous in the forests of Essex, Northampton,
Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Dorset ; the proportions at later
dates are given in a subsequent section.
The different names applied to both these species at different
ages of their growth are not a little confusing, and vary some-
what from forest to forest. The following table of terms,
denoting the age and sex of the red and fallow deer respec-
tively, somewhat altered from a table given by Mr. Turton
in his account of Pickering forest, will be found useful : —
RED DEER
FALLOW DEER
YEAR
HART
HIND
BUCK
DOE
ISt
calf
hind calf
fawn
fawn
•vitulus cervi
vitulus bisse
juvencuhis
ju-vencula
2nd
brocket or
knobber
brokettus
hyrsel or
hearse
hyrsula or
ursula
pricket
prikettus
tegg
tegga
3rd
4th
spayard
spardus or
sorellus cer-vi
stag-g-ard
staggartus or
hind
bissa or cerva
sorrel
sourellus
soar, sore
sorus
doe
dama
5th
6th
sourus cervi
stag-
staggus
hart
cervus
buck
damns or
dania m.
great buck
7th
great hart
28 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
" Feton " (feta) is the term frequently used to signify a fawn,
usually of the red deer, in the earlier forest pleas and accounts.
It occurs several times in forest proceedings of the High Peak.
The author of the Feudal History of Derbyshire makes the
amusing mistake of reading it .reton, and expends much
learning on the derivation of such a term !
The term raskall or raskell occurs in various later forest
accounts. It usually means deer out of condition, fit neither
to hunt nor kill ; but is occasionally used (as in Rutland
accounts) to denote female deer.
"Murrain" was the generic term in mediaeval England, for
almost every form of disease that affected cattle as well as
deer. From the records that are extant in various forest
proceedings of the deaths of deer from murrain, it is clear
that sometimes this term was used to denote a severe form
of infectious illness that caused great ravages among the
herds ; whilst at other times, when only two or three die in the
year from murrain, it would seem to be of the nature of some
ordinary ailment. As a rule, the foresters were expected to
hang up on the trees of the forest the carcases of those deer
that had died of the murrain, and always to keep a strict record
of those that thus perished. On several occasions there are
instances of foresters being presented and fined, for skinning
and taking the hides of those that had died of disease.
At a later period, as in Duffield Frith, the foresters were
ordered to take the more sanitary course of burning the car-
cases. From a manuscript book, dealing with the perambula-
tions and pleas of Sherwood, in the reigns of Henry III.-
Edward III., it appears that the vast number of 350 head of
deer (both red and fallow) had fallen victims to the murrain in
the year 1286.
The full records of the Pickering eyre of 1334 give details as
to the deer and murrain during each successive keepership
since the last eyre in 1280. During the keepership of Richard
Skelton upwards of 500 died of murrain. The murrain was
severe in the forest of Rockingham during the reigns of
Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III., particularly in
certain years; 1,400 head of game died of disease during the
whole period. In the first five years of Henry VII. the deaths
from murrain amounted to 282. In the first year of Henry VII.,
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST 29
80 fallow deer died of murrain in the Wiltshire forests of
Melksham and Pewsham, namely, 27 bucks, 33 does, and
20 fawns ; but in the second year of his reign the far greater
number of 340 perished, and in the third year 140. In 1489,
and again in 1493, an unusual number of both red and fallow
deer were found " dede of murrayn in Epping forest." The
most appalling case is that of Clarendon forest, in 1470, when
2,209 died of murrain in the one year.
The ROE DEER were the most graceful and the smallest of
British cervidce, a fully grown buck only standing twenty-six
inches high at the shoulder. It must have been quite common
— at all events in the south of England — in early days, as is
proved by the scientific series of explorations carried out by the
late General Pitt-Rivers in the Romano-British villages round
Rushmore, Wilts. The roe or roebuck is mentioned in forest
proceedings under the interchangeable terms of capriolus or
cheverellus, the latter being Latinised from the French chevreuil.
A roe killed in 1251 in Rockingham forest is entered, as Mr.
Turner points out, as cheverellus in the forest inquisition, and
as capriolus in the corresponding eyre roll. The writer of the
Feudal History of Derbyshire has made nonsense of the
various forest presentments for the killing of roebucks in the
Peak, by translating capriolus "wild-goat." The killing of
a wild-goat in this forest would have been a work of merit, and
certainly not deserving presentment.
In the full records of the Derbyshire eyre for the Peak of
1251, the killing of a roebuck is presented, and at the next
eyre, 1286, five such cases are recorded. These Derbyshire
instances help to clear up a matter of some importance in the
history of England's forests. In the thirteenth century there
is no doubt that there were in general four, and only four,
beasts of the forest ; these were the red deer, the fallow deer,
the roe deer, and the wild boar. In a charter of 1212, King
John granted to the monks of Lenton the tithe of all his
venison taken in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The word
" venison " (venacio} was applied in mediaeval days to the beasts
of the forest, and is in this case defined as the red deer, fallow
deer, and wild boar. From this it has been supposed that the
roe was not considered as a beast of the forest in all counties.
Mr. Turner, in his valuable work on Forest Pleas, commenting
30 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
on this, says : " It is unfortunate that no documents still
exist which relate to the forests in Nottingham and Derby in
the reign of Henry III. or his predecessors," and adds that
a roe occurs in the Nottingham forest eyre of 15 Edw. I.,
but that as this is a single case, the great rarity of the roe in
these counties may be inferred. The instances here adduced
show that this is a mistake.
At the eyre for Pickering forest, Yorks, in 1338, the
question as to whether the roe was a true beast of the forest
arose, and the justices in eyre referred the question to the court
of King's Bench, when it was decided (contrary to previous
decisions) that it was a beast of the warren, for the curious
reason that it put to flight other deer. It has been supposed
that from that date the roe ceased to be a beast of the forest
throughout England. But that decision was either not gene-
rally known, or applied only to the peculiar case relative to the
manor of Seamer. In 1398 a case was presented at a swain-
mote held at Tideswell, Derbyshire, of a venison trespasser
killing a roebuck and a fallow doe. As late as 7 Henry VII. a
charge of taking a roe deer in a snare in Clarendon forest was
preferred against an offender, at the eyre held at Salisbury.
There are many interesting particulars relative to the roe
deer in the records of Pickering forest. Edward II., in 1322,
paid the large sum of £$ for cord to make nets to catch roe-
buck. This expenditure on cord would not be for the purpose
of making small snares, but to aid in the construction of a
buckstall into which the deer would be driven. Henry, Lord
Percy, claimed, in 1338, to hunt and take fox, roe deer, cat,
and badger on his manor of Seamer, although within the
forest. The jury found that Lord Percy and all his ancestors
had hunted and taken roe deer, but that that animal was a
beast of the forest, for which offence poachers had been con-
victed and fined at the last eyre. The justices referred this
point to the judgment of King's Bench, with the result already
stated.
The few cases of venison trespass that are extant with regard
to the forest of Exmoor, prove that it possessed both red deer
and roebuck. Presentments for killing roe deer are also extant
in the case of the Forest of Dean and several others.
The WILD BOAR. — The wild boar is one of the oldest and
PLATE
•y& "C^*^ ^N/W '£•-•;>' i
TrvvV? *» «^ S 4* .*i
WILD BOARS
WILD BOAR HUNTING
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST 31
most renowned of the animals of the British forests. It appears
on ancient British coinage, on various works of art of the later
Celtic period, on Romano-British altars, and with frequency
on Norman ecclesiastical sculpture. The chroniclers tell us
that boar-hunting was a favourite sport of Henry I. Pickering
forest had great repute for its wild boars at the beginning of the
thirteenth century. King John, in 1214, ordered the constable
of the castle on two occasions to render assistance to the royal
huntsman, who was coming with his hounds to kill wild boar in
that forest. The boars were to be sought in that part of the
forest where the king was wont to hunt them. The constable
was to see that the meat was well salted, and the heads soaked
in wine and dispatched to the king. In 1227, Henry dis-
patched his huntsman to Pickering to take twelve wild swine
for the royal use.
King John's anxiety about the preservation of this beast of
the forest lasted to the end of his life. In September, 1216, he
wrote to the constable of St. Briavel ordering that the cattle were
only to be agisted on the fringes of Dean forest, and not in
the forest itself, and particularly not in those places frequented
by the wild boars. In a list of game taken for Edmund,
Edward I.'s brother, in 1279, in Dean forest, under letters
patent, mention is made of one wild boar.
Thomas de Langley, master forester of Wychwood, Oxon., in
1217, received the royal command to allow William de Brewere
to take wild boars (porcos silvestres] in that forest ; and in
1223, the same forester was instructed to take two wild boars
and transfer them to the royal park of Havering, which was
part of Waltham forest.
There are several records of wild boar hunting in Clarendon
and other Wiltshire forests in the fourteenth century.
The boar or wild pig roamed through Cranborne Chase as
late as the days of Elizabeth. Hutchins cites two fifteenth-
century cases noted in the presentments of this chase. Robert
TDlare, in 33 Henry VI., was ordered to be distrained for
killing four wild pigs on Iwerne Hill. Thomas Robe, vicar of
Iwerne, was attached in the following year for killing four
wild pigs in Iwerne Wood with his bow and arrow.
As forests lessened in extent, the wild boar diminished in
numbers ; but their survival in Lancashire, Durham, and
32 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Staffordshire, in the sixteenth century, can be readily estab-
lished. James I. hunted the boar in Windsor forest in 1617.
Charles II. 's reign is the latest time at which this animal is
known to have survived in England in a really wild state.
The WOLF. — The abundance of wolves throughout England
in pre-Norman days is borne witness to by the Saxon name for
January, namely, the wolf-month. There was probably no
part of England where the wolves had surer or more pro-
longed retreats than amid the wilds of the Peak Forest and its
borders. The last places in this country where they tarried
were the Peak, the Lancashire forests of Blackburnshire and
Rowland, and the wolds of Yorkshire. It has been confidently
asserted (Elaine's Encyclopedia of Rural Sports [1858] p. 105)
that entries of payment for the destruction of wolves appear in
the account books of certain parishes of the East Riding, pre-
sumably of sixteenth or seventeenth century date ; but this on
examination proves to be an error. They were abundant in
Dean forest in the time of Edward I., and tenures of land
in the forests of Rockingham and Sherwood, on the service of
wolf-hunting, were renewed in the fifteenth century. The best
authorities (such as Harting and Lydekker) consider that
wolves did not die out in England until the time of Henry VII.,
1485-1509. The last wolf was killed in Scotland in 1743.
Packs of Irish wolves were not exterminated until 1710, and
the last solitary survivor was killed in 1770. Place and field
names afford remarkably abundant evidence of the considerable
presence of wolves in North Derbyshire. Woolow (formerly
spelt Wolflow), Wolfhope, and Wolfscote are well-known ex-
amples. Wolfscote Dale, though the term is not often used,
is still the map-name for the upper stretch of Dovedale, and
Wolfscote Grange and Wolfscote Hill are close to the forest
border. On the opposite side of the Dove, in Staffordshire, is
the ridge termed Wolfedge. The village boys of Hartington
and Beresford Dale used to play at wolves and wolf-hunting in
the "forties" of last century, apparently a traditionary game,
as stated by the late Mr. Beresford Hope. Five cases of wolf
in the field-names of enclosures within the bounds of the old
forest have been found, whilst Wolfpit occurs as a boundary of
Priestcliffe Common, and Wolfstone of Chinley Common in
enclosure commissions, temp. Charles I.
PLATE VI
WOLF AND SHEEPFOLD
WILD GOATS
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST 33
A careful examination of forest and other records relative to
Derbyshire has brought to light various wolf references, most
of which are now cited for the first time. Among the
evidences at St. Mary's College, Spink Hill, is a charter of
Robert Ferrers, Earl of Derby (who died in 1139), granting
lands at Heage, which he held from the king on the service
of driving the wolves out of his lordship of Belper, within
Duffield Chase, which afterwards became a royal forest.
Two payments entered in the Pipe Rolls of Henry II. are
highly significant of the devastation then caused by Derby-
shire wolves. In 1160-1, 25^. was paid to the forest wolf-
hunters (in lupariis} as an extra fee. In 1167-8, so great a
value was set on the skill and experience of the Peak wolf-
trappers (pedicatores), that Henry II. paid los. for the travel-
ling expenses of two of them to cross the seas to take wolves in
Normandy.
The accounts of Gervase de Bernake, bailiff of the Peak for
1255-6 are of special value, as they contain some of the very
few specific entries that have yet been found among the stores
of the Public Record Office of damage done to stock by wolves.
Mention is made therein of a colt (pullum masculuni) strangled
by a wolf in Edale (jugulat* cum lupo in Eydale) ; and in another
place, in a list of waifs that accrued to the lord, there is reference
to two sheep which were also strangled by wolves. There
is another thirteenth-century reference to Derbyshire forest
wolves which seems to have escaped the notice of county and
other writers. The Hundred Rolls of the beginning of
Edward I.'s reign record that Roger Savage was asked by
what right he maintained dogs to take foxes, hares, wild cats,
and wolves, and replied that he was the successor of William
Walkelin, who had a royal grant to that effect.
At the pleas of the forest held at Derby in 1285, it was shown
that a bovate of land held by John le Wolfhunte and Thomas
Foljambe, two of the foresters-of-fee, was a serjeanty assigned
for taking of wolves, in Peak Forest. On the jurors being
asked what were the duties pertaining to that service, the
following was the highly interesting reply :—
" Each year, in March and September, they ought to go through
the midst of the forest to set traps to take the wolves in the places
where they had been found by the hounds ; and if the scent was not
D
34 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
good because of the upturned earth, then they should go at other
times in the summer (as on St. Barnabas Day, June nth), when the
wolves had whelps (catulos) to take and destroy them, but at no
other times ; and they might take with them a sworn servant to carry
the traps (ingenid) ; they were to carry a bill-hook and spear, and
hunting-knife at their belt, but neither bows nor arrows ; and they
were to have with them an unlawed mastiff trained to the work. All
this they were to do at their own charges, but they had no other
duties to discharge in the forest."
In the records of Cannock forest, Staffordshire, for 1281,
there is an entry of a wolf having killed a fat buck ; the flesh
was given to the lepers of Freford.
The Fox was always held to be noxious in England, and no
penalty was attached to its destruction. Nevertheless, it was
a breach of law to hunt them within a royal forest, save by
special licence; the obvious reasons being that such hunting,
if unrestricted, would disturb the king's game, and prove an
irresistible temptation to poaching with not a few.
William Rufus licensed the abbot of Chertsey to hunt the
fox in the Surrey side of Windsor forest.
Richard I. and Henry III. granted licence to the abbot of
Waltham to hunt the fox in the Essex forest.
King John, in 1204, gave the abbot of St. Mary's, York,
liberty to hunt the fox freely throughout all the royal forests of
Yorkshire. The abbess of Barking had like rights in the
forest adjoining her house. It need not be supposed that these
religious superiors were expected by these licences to hunt
personally — though occasionally an irregular abbot might thus
indulge — the licence applied to their duly commissioned
servants.
Licence was granted in 1279 to Adam Attewell, and those
whom he took with him, to take foxes throughout the forest of
Salop, by traps and other means, and to carry them away.
Everyone of England's forests had one or more of the
neighbouring landowners holding charters authorising the
pursuit of the fox with hounds, save in the fence month ; most
of these charters dated from the thirteenth and some from the
twelfth century. In the large majority of cases, the hunting of
the hare was associated with that of the fox. The burgesses
of Nottingham had a chartered right to pursue the fox and hare
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST 35
in Sherwood forest, and this right was held to warrant certain
burgesses keeping greyhounds at an eyre of 1538.
Thomas Bret, the vicar of Scalby, in Pickering forest, and
four others, were each fined 6d., in 1336, for making folds of
small thorns — a vert offence — in Scalby Hay to guard their
sheep from the fox.
In Turbervile's Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting (1575), the
hunting of the fox and badger are described together. Both
were hunted, or rather drawn, by terriers. He remarks : —
" As touching- foxes, I account small pastime of hunting of them,
especially within the ground ; for as soone as they perceyve the
terryers, if they yearne hard and gx>e neare unto them, they will
bolte and come out streyghtwaies, unlesse it be when the bitch hathe
yong cubbes : then they will not forsake their yong ones though they
die for it."
When the fox was hunted ''above grounde," after the earth
had been stopped, the hounds of the chase thus employed are
described as greyhounds, showing that the fox was usually
coursed by sight, and not followed by scent.
The HARE was the principal beast of the warren. The large
majority of chartered rights for the hunting of the fox within
forests included the hare. The forest pleas of Somerset, in
1287, show a most remarkable exception as to the beasts of the
forest in the case of the warren of Somerton, within whose
bound the king preserved the hare, and inquests were actually
held on those found dead.
At the eyre held at Rockingham in 1285, certain men were
presented for setting nets for hares in Brigstock park.
A curious entry in the Close Rolls of 1276 mentions that the
keeper of Bernwood forest was ordered to supply Sir Francis
de Bononia (a famous secretary of Edward I.), with several
young bucks and does, and also four live hares and six live
rabbits, to be placed in the king's garden at Oxford.
At an eyre held at Sherborne in 1288, the jury protested
against the freemen of Cranborne Chase being deprived of
their dogs, wherewith they had a right to hunt the hare and
the fox.
The Coucher Book of the Duchy of Lancaster contains a
great variety of presentments for hare hunting and hare taking,
36 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
particularly in the forest of Pickering, temp. Edward III.
Robert Hampton, rector of Middleton, presented at the eyre
for keeping four greyhounds and hunting hares at will, made
no appearance and was outlawed. Matilda de Bruys was pre-
sented as accustomed to hunt and catch hares ; she appeared,
was fined 5.?., and found sureties for good behaviour. Peter de
Manlay, jun., a man of considerable position, was fined .£1
for hare hunting, and Sir Nicholas de Menill £,\ 6s. 8d.
Others were fined for hare hunting, or hare killing with bow
and arrows, from 13.?. 4^. to is. according to their position.
How such charges came before the eyre as contrary to the
forest assize, becomes clear from the nature of the charge in
several of the cases ; the delinquents are described as catching
hares in various ways " to the terror of the deer."
The WILD CAT was usually associated with the fox and hare
in chartered rights for forest hunting ; we have found it thus
included in forest claims of Pickering, Windsor, Sussex,
Cheshire, and Sherwood.
The wild cat is named by Turbervile, in 1575, as vermin which
used to be commonly hunted in England. At that time they
were not hunted designedly, but if a hound chanced to cross
a wild cat he would hunt it as soon as any chase — ''and they
make a noble trye for the time that they stand up. At last,
when they may no more, they will take a tre, and therein seek
to beguile the hounds. But if the hounds hold into them, and
will not so give it over, then they leap from one tree to another,
and make great shift for their lives, with no less pastime to the
huntsmen." The wild cat is now extinct in England ; it is
supposed that the last one was shot by Lord Ravensworth in
1853, at Eslington, Northumberland.
The MARTIN is mentioned in two or .three of the forest
hunting grants. Thus, Richard Dove, chief forester of Mara
and Moudrem, established, at an eyre held at Chester in 1271,
his claim to the hunting of foxes, hares, cats, martins, and
other vermin with hounds or greyhounds.
The BADGER is also included in certain grants for forest
hunting. This animal is expressly named in Henry III.'s
grant in 1252 to Walter Baskerville in the forests of Hereford,
Gloucester, Oxford, and Essex; in the 1253 grant to Roger
Hardy, burgess of Scarborough, throughout the whole forest
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST 37
of Pickering ; in the 1253 grant to John of Lexington, in
Essex ; in two other grants in parts of Pickering forest ; and
in the 1297 grant to Thomas Paynel, in the Sussex forest of
Ashdown.
The OTTER obtains mention in a few forest proceedings and
accounts. In the Peak Forest there are three or four instances
of presentments for killing it with hounds; probably on the
ground of disturbing the deer by such an action. Edward
IV. had a pack of otter-hounds, which, like the packs of
harriers and buck-hounds, was composed partly of running
and partly of scent hounds.
The SQUIRREL even was named in some of these licences. It
was included in the first-named grant of 1253 to John of
Lexington ; whilst the hunting hare, fox, squirrel, and cat
throughout Sherwood forest formed part of the extensive
privileges pertaining to Robert de Everingham, who was
removed from his office of hereditary keeper or chief forester
in 1289.
The RABBIT or Coney has already been mentioned in con-
nection with warrens. The free chase and warren of Ashdown,
Sussex, were held by Edward I.'s mother; in 1283 proceed-
ings were taken against various persons for hunting and
carrying of rabbits from her park at Mansfield. A raid made
on St. Leonards forest, in 1295, included rabbits amongst the
booty.
The office of parker of Blagden, in Cranborne Chase, carried
with it "the ferme of the cunnyes."
The rabbit warrens within the forest of Clarendon were of
exceptional value, and are frequently mentioned in the
accounts. In the time of Edward III. they were the perquisite
of the chief keeper. In 1495, £100 received from the
" Fermour of the Conyes in Clarendon," formed an item of the
revenue assigned for the king's household. In the time of
Charles I. these warrens were worth upwards of £200 a year.
SWANS. — It was the duty of the chief minister of each ward
of Duffield Frith to secure the king's swans, and all waif and
stray swans on the various rivers and streams within the
forest limits. That there used to be many swans on the
Derwent, in Duffield forest, is proved by the name Hopping
Mill, or Hopping Weir, at Milford. Hopping, or upping, was
38 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the term for the annual marking of the swans. Swainsley, on
the margin of the river near Hopping Mill, is a corruption of
Swansley. In some forests, such as Windsor and Clarendon,
swan warding was an important part of the forester's duty.
In the latter forest a large number of swans were kept on the
river. In Edward III. reign these royal birds were stolen on
several occasions. In June, 1327, the prior of Ivy Church
and another were commissioned to inquire and search for
certain swans which were said to have been conveyed to divers
places on the Avon, between Salisbury and Christchurch.
Further commissions were issued to recover stolen swans in
1331 and in 1345 ; on the latter occasion the stolen birds were
said to be worth the great sum of ^100.
EYRIES of hawks and falcons formed the subject of the second
inquiry named in the chapter of the Regard, drawn up in 1229.
In the long list of perquisites pertaining to the office of chief
forester of Mara and Moudrem, claimed at the 1271 eyre held
at Chester, is the right to all sparrow hawks, merlins, and
hobbies.
Sir John de Meaux paid to the Earl of Lancaster for his
woods of Levisham, in Pickering forest, 2s. annual rent, and
eyries of falcons, merlins, and sparrow hawks. Thomas Wake,
in his barony of Middleton, in the same forest, claimed to have
eyries of sparrow hawks and merlins in his woods.
When the regarders assembled in Sherwood forest in 1309,
the foresters swore to lead the twelve knights to view, inter alia,
the eyries of hawks and falcons.
Falcons and falconers are named several times in the
fourteenth century in connection with Rockingham forest.
PARTRIDGES and PHEASANTS have been already named under
warrens. In 1336 two offenders were fined for catching par-
tridges in Pickering forest ; the one delinquent had to pay 3^.
4^., and the other 6d. The amounts were in all probability
settled in accordance with their social position.
Part of the privileges granted in the forest to the abbey of
Chertsey, by Henry II., was the liberty of taking pheasants.
Among the offences dealt with at the eyre held at Guildford in
1488, for the Surrey portion of Windsor forest, was the fining
of Ralph Bygley in the heavy sum of icw. for being a common
destroyer of pheasants and partridges, and a taker of birds.
THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST 39
Another offender at the same eyre was presented for killing six
pheasants with a hawk.
Pheasants are mentioned in a raid on St. Leonards forest,
Sussex, in 1295.
HERONS. — There are several incidental notices of herons and
heronries among the forest proceedings. In the raid that
was made in 1295 on the forest, or rather the chase of St.
Leonards, Sussex, herons formed part of the booty that was
unlawfully removed. In 1334 Sir Walter de London, the
king's almoner, received the tithe of 157 herons that had been
killed in Pickering forest. Mention is also made of herons
sent up to London, out of Clarendon forest, for the king's
table, on several occasions in the fourteenth century.
WOODCOCKS. — The accounts of Duffield forest for 1313-14
make mention, under the ward of Hulland, of 4^. 6d. for " ix
cokschutes." A cockshut was a large net suspended between
two poles, employed to catch or shut in woodcocks ; it was
used chiefly in the twilight. At the southern extremity of this
ward is a farm still known as Cockshut. The same place-name
survives on the sites of several of our old forests ; and licences
to use cockshuts were granted at swainmotes in Derbyshire,
Hampshire, and Wiltshire. Reference to woodcocks will also
be found under Galtres forest.
General licences for fowling in specific parts of a forest were
sometimes granted in the local courts. On several occasions
bird fowlers were attached at fourteenth and fifteenth century
swainmotes in Duffield Frith, Clarendon forest, etc. ; and a few
examples of presentments at eyres for a like general offence
are also extant. Thus, at Pickering, in 1334, Henry the
Fowler of Barugh, Adam the Fowler of Ayton, and two others,
were summoned and fined for catching birds in the forest by
means of nets, birdlime, and other devices. The general dis-
turbance of the deer would doubtless cause such action to be
considered a breach of the assize of the forest.
BEES and HONEY. — The fifth chapter of the Regard, issued
in 1229, related to the king's right to the honey in the royal
demesne woods of the forests. At the Chester eyre of 1271,
the hereditary chief forester of Mara and Moudrem claimed all
swarms of bees as part of his extensive perquisites.
At an attachment court of the Lancashire forests of Quern-
40 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
more and Wyersdale, in 1299, several men were presented for
taking a byke or nest of wild bees, and carrying the honey to
the house of Ralph de Caton, where it was found, and also for
burning the oak tree containing the comb ; the tree was valued
at Afd. and the honey at 6d.
A long roll of amercements, imposed at an eyre for Sherwood
forest, held at Nottingham in 1334, includes a fine of i2d., in
addition to 6d. the value of the honey, on two men, for carrying
honey from out of the forest.
Particular indictments of the Pickering eyre of 1335 included
the taking, by one Gilbert Ayton, of a gallon of honey and two
pounds of wax out of old tree trunks. Gilbert appeared by
attorney, and said that, by the great Charter of the Forest, it
was provided that every freeman might have the honey found
in his own woods. The indictment itself stated that he found
the honey in his own woods of Hutton Bushell and Troutsdale,
and therefore he asked for judgment in his favour, and ob-
tained it.
The fifteenth-century directions to the ''collectors" of the
different wards of Duffield Frith instructed them to take for
the king all bykes of bees.
The ancient right of the Crown to forest honey may be
traced in the claim of the lords of the manor of Wanstead,
Essex, in 1489, to the profits of bees, honey, and wax in
Wanstead wood. One of the items in the charge at the
Epping swainmote of later days was : " If any man do take
out of the hollow trees any honie, wax, or swarmes of bees
within the forest, yee shall do us to weet." The lord of the
manor of Minestead, in the New Forest, claimed the honey in
his woods as late as 1852.
CHAPTER V
THE FOREST AGISTMENTS
A^ART from the beasts of the forest and chase, or the wild
animals, every forest district had its quota of domestic
animals, feeding regularly or occasionally within its
bounds. These were subject to the strict oversight and direc-
tion of the agisters, whose office has already been explained.
In almost every case, these animals were the property of the
tenants of the forest or its purlieus. Dartmoor was a remark-
able exception to this rule, inasmuch as almost every parish
in Devonshire had certain rights of pasturage if it chose to
exercise them.
All forests were liable to have agistment and pannage sus-
pended altogether or in parts, for a certain year or more, if
the circumstances of the case seemed to need it. Particular
mention of this is made in a charter of Henry III. to the
priory of Ivy Church in Clarendon forest
In several forests, notably Essex, there was also a regular
winter interval, though variable in duration, when all agist-
ment was prohibited, for the purpose of reserving the food for
the deer ; this was called Winter Heyning. Mention is made
subsequently of the fence month.
SWINE and PANNAGE. — Swine were usually only allowed in
forests during the season called the time of pannage, when
they fed upon the acorns and beech mast which had then fallen.
The mast season lasted from i4th September to :8th November.
Under the English forest laws of Henry II., four knights were
appointed to see to the agistment, and to receive the king's
pannage, which in well-wooded forests amounted to a consider-
able sum. No man might agist his own woods in a forest
before those of the king were agisted ; the agistment of the
41
42 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
royal woods ended fifteen days after Michaelmas. The usual
agistment fee was a penny for each pig above a year old, and
a halfpenny for every pig above half a year old. The swain-
motes were constantly engaged in the late autumn, throughout
England, in fining those who had unagisted pigs in the forest.
The pannage fees were usually paid at a special swainmote
held about Martinmas, which was sometimes, as in Duffield
Frith, called the pannage, or "tack" court. Each tenant who
had common rights "tacked," or declared the number of his
pigs turned into the forest. Any untacked were forfeited, and
the tenant was also fined according to the steward's pleasure.
When the tenant had as many as seven swine, the king had
one, but returned ^d. for it to the tenant ; if eight, the king
had one, returning zd. ; if nine, id. was returned ; but if ten,
one was taken with no return. This remained the Duffield rule
to the end of its days as a forest. There is also a good deal of
evidence of this being carried out in other forests; particularly
the proviso of the king having the best one of every ten
pannaged swine.
Guildford park, in the Surrey portion of Windsor forest,
was agisted in 1257 with 156 pigs, and in that case the king's
claim was the heavy one of every third pig, amounting to
52 pigs worth 2s. each. In 1260 the same park was agisted
with 240 pigs ; but for that year 4^. was paid for each pig.
At a pannage court held at Birkley lodge on 2Qth October,
1523, for all the wards of Needwood forest, the pannage fees
for 185 pigs amounted to 2js. o\d.y being at the usual rate of
id. a pig, and \d. for a young pig.
Fines for collecting and carrying off both acorns and beech
mast were not uncommon at the autumn swainmotes.
It should be remembered that any freeman, in the case of
swine and other animals, had a right, by the Charter of the
Forest, to agist any free wood of his own, though situated in a
forest, in accordance with his desire, and take his own pannage.
The charter also granted leave to any freeman to drive his
swine through royal demesne woods, in order to gain his own
wood or some place outside the forest.
CATTLE. — The agistment of cattle in certain stretches of the
forest, as well as their pasturing on particular lands, was usual
throughout England. From an early date it was customary to
THE FOREST AGISTMENTS 43
insist upon all such cattle being branded for identification.
Thus, in the accounts of 1321-2 of Needwood forest occurs an
item of ^d. paid for an iron for branding the cattle. It was,
for the most part, the duty of the reeves of the forest parishes
to mark with some distinctive sign the cattle entitled to feed
upon the wastes. In the case of the Essex forest, the mark
consisted of a letter surmounted in each case by a crown. The
marking irons were usually eight inches in height ; Mr. Fisher
has given examples of a considerable number. Representa-
tion of the cattle marks of the different parishes of Pickering
forest are given in Home's Town of Pickering (1905).
Dartmoor was the most conspicuous example of a vast forest
district given up chiefly to the pasturage of cattle. The ac-
counts and court rolls, from the time of Edward III. to James I.,
give full details of the large amount of cattle turned out in each
of its four divisions. They numbered at times upwards of five
thousand head, and the charge right through this long period
was i^d. each. They came from all over Devonshire, and the
annual great drives, to see their correct marking and number-
ing, are described in the section on that forest. "Drifts" of cattle
for a like purpose also occur in the Needwood proceedings.
Several of the forest rolls from the time of Edward I. to
Elizabeth, yield particulars of the vaccaries or great cowhouses
with pasturage attached, which were on the royal demesnes,
and were included in the forest accounts, whether under direct
management or let out to farm. Instances occur in the cases
of Duffield, Pickering, Clarendon, and Cheshire, and notably
in the later history of Peak Forest.
It may here be noticed that the place-name Booth, by itself
or in combination, is usually indicative of the site of the
residence of those who acted as cowherds. This is particularly
noticeable in the neighbourhood of Edale, Derbyshire, where
there were five separate vaccaries in the time of Elizabeth.
HORSES. — The agistment of a limited number of horses, and
more particularly of mares with colts, was common throughout
England's forests. Records of their agistment in the parks of
Duffield forest occur in the accounts of several centuries. It
was generally recognised that they did more damage than
cattle or sheep, and therefore their escape fines were heavier.
Thus at a Belper (Duffield forest) woodmote court of 1304,
44 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
various offenders, presented by the foresters, paid i2d. as fines
for suffering foals and mares to wander in the ward, whilst the
fines for plough-cattle and sheep were from ^d. to id.
In subsequent particulars as to the Peak, reference will be
found as to the establishment of stud farms within a forest
area.
The ministers' accounts of the issues of Pickering castle and
forest in 1325-6 show that there was a stud (equiciuni) of two
black stallions, called " Morel of Merton " and " Morel of Tut-
bury " ; seventeen mares ; six three-year-olds (pullam), four two-
year-old colts (staggi} ; three two-year-old fillies (pultre) ; four
yearling fillies (pultrelle) ; eight other young horses (pulli de
remarencia] ; and ten foals from the mares {pulli de exitii).
SHEEP. — A charter of Canute contains the grant of a right to
feed a flock of sheep in a forest. At the Domesday survey there
were a large number of sheep in parishes pertaining to the forest
of Essex. But the Norman forest laws distinctly forbade sheep
pasturing in forests without licence. The reason usually alleged
for this restriction, as stated in a seventeenth-century action at
law, was in respect of the dislike "which the Redd and fallow
Deare doe naturallie take of the sent and smelle of the sheepe ;
as also for that the sheepe do undereate the Deare, and hurt
and spoyle the coverte, and thereby prejudice and wrong the
Deare both in their feeding and layer." This, however, was
flatly denied by the other side, who said that " dayly experience
proveth the contrary ; and that yt is an usuall thing to see a
deere and a sheepe feed together in one quillet of ground, even
upon one mole-hill together."
When the tenants of Broughton, in Amounderness forest,
Lancashire, claimed at an eyre of 1334 common pasture in the
forest of Fulwood, sheep were excepted because they failed to
produce any special grant for the pasturing of such animals.
In the later forest days, when the breeding of sheep in this
country had greatly increased, grants for their admission into
forests became much more common. The agistment rolls of
Dartmoor forest for 1571-2, which had previously been con-
fined to cattle and horses, include a considerable number of
sheep, in flocks varying from three hundred to ten. The
illegal introduction of sheep into Peak Forest in Elizabethan
days, and their consequent wholesale impounding, is described
THE FOREST AGISTMENTS 45
in a subsequent chapter. The freeholders of Needwood forest,
in 1680, decided that sheep found pasturing in the forest were
to be forfeited, and twelve shillings a day fine for each sheep !
Sheep-farming on the royal demesnes in districts associated
with forests, and therefore found in forest accounts, occur
occasionally, notably in the forests of Pickering and Peak
Forest. The sheep are usually divided into wethers (multones),
ewes (oves, or oves matrices), two-year-olds (bidentes}, hogs, or
male one-year-olds (hogastri), gimmers, female sheep from first
to second shearing (j'erct'e^, and lambs. Milking ewes and
the making of sheep-cheese was usual throughout mediaeval
England. Certain particulars relative to this custom will be
found under the Peak Forest.
GOATS. — The turning out of goats to pasture, even in the
wildest parts of a forest, was unlawful ; save in occasional very
restricted areas, under express licence. By tainting the pasture,
they effectually banished the deer. The Scotch law of the
forest provided that if goats were found for a third time in a
forest, the forester was to hang one of them by the horns on
a tree; whilst for a fourth time he was forthwith to slay one,
and leave its bowels in the place, in token that they were found
there.
In the lodgment or adjudication of claims before the eyre,
goats are often expressly excluded. Thus the prioress of
Wykeham, at the fourteenth-century Pickering eyre, claimed
common of pasture in certain woods and adjoining wastes for
all animals except goats ; and when not mentioned, they were
certainly tacitly excluded. On the other hand, at the same
eyre, the claims of Gilbert de Ayton to pasture goats in the
moors and woods of Hutton Bushel, within the covert and
without, at all times of the year, and of Ralph de Hasting in
his woods and moors at Allerston, Cross Cliff and Staindale
were allowed. Certain stray goats found in the forest of Mara,
Cheshire, in 1271, were forfeited to the master forester. The
tenants of Broughton, in the Lancashire forest of Amounder-
ness, had common pasture granted them at Fulwood, in 1334,
for all animals save goats. At a swainmote in Wyersdale
forest, in the same county, held at Whitsuntide,. 1479, eight
transgressors were presented for keeping goats ; the goats
numbered forty-one, eight of which belonged to the prioress of
46 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Seton. No fewer than fifty-six persons were presented at the
Epping Forest justice seat of 1323-4 for keeping goats on the
forest contrary to the assize.
When Henry III. was tarrying at Stamford in 1229, he
was approached by the men on the royal demesne of Kings-
cliff and the neighbouring townships, complaining piteously
that Hugh de Neville, the keeper of Rockingham forest, and
his bailiffs prohibited them from turning out their goats in the
forest of Cliff according to ancient custom. The goats must
have been in considerable numbers, for the men asserted that
they could not support their lives if this prohibition was sus-
tained. The king thereupon ordered that they should be per-
mitted to pasture their goats in the more open part of the
wood (in clariori bosco), and wherever they would do the least
injury to the forest.
CHAPTER VI
HOUNDS AND HUNTING
THE sixth article of the Charter of the Forest (1217) dealt
with the old custom of the lawing of dogs. The inqui-
sition or view of the lawing of dogs in the forest was for
the future to be made every third year, and he whose dog was
then found to be unlawed was to be fined three shillings. This
mutilation of dogs, termed lawing or expeditation, to prevent
them chasing the game, is said to be as old as the time of
Edward the Confessor. By the forest law of Henry II. it was
done to mastiffs. The charter of 1217 laid down that the law-
ing was to consist in cutting off the three claws of the forefeet,
without the ball. "The mastive," says Manwood, " being
brought to set one of his forefeet upon a piece of wood eight
inches thick and a foot square, then one with a mallet, setting
a chissell two inches broad upon the three clawes of his fore-
foot, at one blow doth smite them cleane off."
This lawing, though originally intended only for mastiffs,
was usually applied to all dogs in forest bounds. This was
certainly the case in the forests of Rockingham, Pickering,
and Essex. The right to have unlawed dogs was not un-
frequently granted by the Crown to persons of position and
influence. Thus the Canons of Waltham, the Bishop of Lon-
don, and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's had grants
exempting their house dogs in Essex forest; whilst the Earl of
Arundel and other laymen obtained complete exemption. It
'was the custom in some forests, as at Pickering, for outlying
townships to pay a composition, termed in that forest " hun-
gill " or " houndgeld," for the purpose of securing immunity
from lawing.
The dog of most common occurrence in forest proceedings
is the greyhound (leporarius), which hunted by sight. By the
47
48 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Assize of Woodstock (1184), the keeping of greyhounds in the
forest was forbidden. In the cases of venison trespass through-
out the forests of England, the illicit hunting of deer with
greyhounds, with or without bows and arrows, is the com-
monest charge. The last chapter of the Regard of 13
Henry III. directed inquiry to be made as to who had
braches or greyhounds or anything else for doing harm to the
king's deer. Lists of those keeping greyhounds are some-
times found amongst the extant eyre rolls. Greyhounds found
in a forest, or straying in pursuit of deer, were sent forthwith to
the particular justice of that forest. Thus a number of grey-
hounds in the charge of poachers, found in Rockingham forest
in 1246, were sent by the foresters and verderers to Sir Robert
Passclew, then justice of that forest. It is thought that the
old greyhound was a larger and more powerful dog than that
which we know by that name, and more nearly resembled our
deerhound. Dr. Caius (English Dogges, 1576) applies the
word to various breeds. He describes the greyhound as —
"A spare and bare kinde of dogge (of fleshe but not of bone) ;
some are of a greater sorte, and some of a lesser ; some are smooth
skynned, and some are curled ; the bigger thereof are appoynted to
hunt the big"ger beasts, and the smaller serve to hunt the smaller
accordingly."
Brache (brachettus) was the general term for hounds that
hunted by scent (odore sequentes), and the bercelet (bercelettus}
was a smaller hound of the same kind. The limehound
(limarius) also hunted by scent, and the name may have been
but an alias for a bercelet. The limehound, or lymer, as it is
termed by Twici and Caius, took its name from the line or
thong by which it was held. Caius says this dog is in smelling
irregular and in swiftness incomparable, and that it taketh the
prey " with a jolly quickness."
The mastiff (inastivus) is of fairly frequent occurrence in
forest proceedings of the thirteenth and subsequent centuries ;
it seems to have corresponded to our dog of the same name.
It was large and strong, and evidently employed chiefly for the
protection of property and person. It was used for the destruc-
tion of wolves, and was capable of hunting and pulling down
both red and fallow deer.
HOUNDS AND HUNTING 49
Straknr was the name of a kind of dog in favourite use
among Cumberland deer-poachers, according to an eyre roll
of 15 Edward I. But it was not merely a North-country
word, for we have met with it twice in Wiltshire forest pro-
ceedings.
Velters (valtri, veltri, or vautrarii) were running hounds akin
to but separate from the old greyhound. Blount says that it
was a mongrel hound used for the chase of the wild boar.
In addition to the rough division of dogs of the forest into
those that hunted by sight and those that hunted by scent,
terms are commonly found, in the forest proceedings, for dogs
that hunted different kinds of game. Thus those that were
used for hunting the red deer were termed cervericii canes, or
hart hounds. They were a breed of running hounds, and were
not used exclusively for hart hunting. In the fifteenth century
the king had a master of hart hounds.
Damericii canes were the buckhounds for hunting the fallow
deer. Small packs of these buckhounds are frequently men-
tioned as accompanying the royal huntsman of Henry III. and
Edward I.
The roe deer were occasionally hunted, and canes cheverolerez
are mentioned several times as being sent to forests by King
John. On one occasion Adam, his huntsman, was accompanied
by a pack of seventeen roehounds, and on another by one of
twenty-four.
Porcerecii canes is obviously the name of hounds used for
hunting wild boars. We have met with the term in several
rolls of John, Henry III., and Edward I., among dogs
dispatched to the royal forests.
Lutericii canes is the equivalent for otterhounds. Mr. Turner
cites their occurrence in a wardrobe account of 18 Edward I.
They are also mentioned in the same reign in the Peak Forest,
and occur in connection with Clarendon forest in the fifteenth
century.
Haericii canes denoted a particular kind of running hound,
and is usually rendered " harriers." There is said, however, to
be no real philological connection between the term and hares,
and they were certainly used in hunting deer, as is abundantly
proved by Mr. Turner.
Dogs are frequently distinguished by their colour in cases
50 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
of venison trespass. In the case of a Rockingham trespass of
1246 with five greyhounds, one was white, another black, a
third fallow, a fourth black-spotted, and the fifth tawny
(teyngre). Other terms for greyhound colour in forest pro-
ceedings are ticked (tetchelatus}, tiger - marked or brindled
(tigrus], and red (ruffus and rtibens}. In a presentment of
the Lancashire forest of Quernmore a greyhound is described
as being red with a black muzzle (cum nigro mussell}. Occa-
sionally a dog's name is entered on the proceedings, as was
the case with a certain black greyhound in Peak Forest, called
"Collyng." The name occurs in poaching charges at two
different courts.
The early treatises on hunting pay great attention to the
diseases of sporting dogs and their general treatment.
Frequent mention will be found in subsequent chapters of
the general custom of allowing local foresters to kill one or
two deer a year, when training their young dogs.
In Sir Henry Dryden's edition of Twici (vide infm), there is
a brief appendix on the various kinds of dogs used in hunting.
He gives a plate, here reproduced, of outline sketches of dogs
from illuminations of Gaston de Foix's French treatise. Fig. i
is the alant, or kind of mastiff, described as running swiftly but
also following by scent. It was used in France chiefly for
bears and boars. On account of its ferocity, it was generally
kept muzzled. Fig. 2 is a gazehound, or greyhound. Fig 3
is a lymer, or limehound, with hanging ears something like
a bloodhound. Figs. 4 and 5 picture the brache or rache.
This is usually represented in Gaston's pictures as black and
tan. It corresponded to our beagle.
The old seasons for forest hunting are almost invariably
given wrongly in works or articles dealing with the subject ;
the errors were usually made through imagining that the
English seasons coincided with those prevailing on the Con-
tinent. The true hunting times can, however, be gathered from
original forest proceedings.
Pinguedo was the term for the season of hunting the hart
and the buck when they were fat, or, to use forest jargon, " in
grease " ; it extended from 24th June to i4th September.
Fermisona, or fermisone, was the period for hunting the
hind and the doe, which lasted from nth November to 2nd
52 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
February. The summer hart or buck venison was considered
much more of a delicacy than the winter hind or doe venison.
There are a variety of entries on the Close Rolls from the
time of John to Edward II., relative to the dispatch of the
king's huntsmen and attendants and hounds to different forests,
for the purpose of obtaining venison for the royal household ;
most of this was salted down on the spot and committed to
the sheriff for delivery. A small selection of such cases, of
the reigns of Edward I. and II., are cited here instead of
under the respective forests. Entries of this kind make it
quite clear that no large hunting staff or kennels were main-
tained in the actual forests ; they were reserved for the king,
and occasionally for his friends, the local foresters having only
a few hounds in training for the use of the master of the
forest.
On December I3th, 1275, Matthew de Columbariis, keeper
of the forest of Clarendon, received orders to permit Henry de
Candover, the king's huntsman, to take twenty does for the
king's use against Christmas, and to give him due aid and
counsel ; certain of the king's yeomen accompanied the hunts-
man. In 1280, when Philip de Candover was king's huntsman,
he received during his visit to Clarendon forest 2s. 6d. a day
from the sheriff of Wilts for his wages, whilst the expenses of
his horses and of the pack of twenty-six hounds and their two
keepers (or berners) amounted to £18 i$s. 4^. In the follow-
ing year the pack numbered thirty-two, and the expenses were
£24 15-5-. id.
In November, 1313, the sheriff of Berks was ordered to pay
to Robert le Squier, whom the king was sending to take
eight hinds and six bucks in Windsor forest, with two
berners, three ventrers, one berceletter, twenty-four running
dogs, twelve greyhounds, and two bercelets, his wages, during
his stay in his bailiwick, to wit i2d. a day, and 2d. a day for
each of the berners, ventrers, and the berceletter, and \\d.
a day for each of the dogs, greyhounds, and bercelets. He
was also to deliver him salt for the venison, and carriage for
the same, to the king. There was another order to the sheriff
of the like kind in June, 1314, and in July, 1316.
Edward II., in July, 1315, issued his mandate to the sheriff
of Devonshire to pay to Robert Squier and David de Franketon,
HOUNDS AND HUNTING 53
two of the royal yeomen, wages of i2d. a day, two berners
and two ventrers zd. a day, together with \d. a day for each
of twenty-four running dogs, and i\d. a day for each of nine
greyhounds, whilst they hunted for the king in Dartmoor
Forest. He was also to provide salt and barrels, and carriage
for the venison. At the same time, the keeper of Dartmoor
Forest was ordered to permit Robert and David to take twenty
harts.
In July, 1315, Edward II. (after giving like instruction to
the sheriff of Somerset with regard to the forests of Neroche,
Petherton, Mendip, and Selwood) ordered the sheriff of
Devon to pay to the king's yeomen, Robert Squier and David
de Franketon, whom the king was sending with two berners,
twenty-four running dogs, two ventrers, and nine greyhounds,
to take venison in the forest of Exmoor, \2d. a day each whilst
thus engaged, together with 2d. a day for each of the berners,
and \d. a day for each of the running dogs, and zd. a day for
each of the ventrers, with i\d. a day for each greyhound. He
has also to provide the yeoman with salt and barrels for the
venison, and to provide for the carriage of the same. At the
same time the keeper of Exmoor received orders to permit the
king's huntsmen to take twenty harts out of the forest. Ex-
moor was evidently at that time the exclusive haunt of the red
deer ; the keepers of Neroche, Selwood, and Petherton were
ordered to supply so many bucks (i.e. fallow deer), whilst the
keeper of Mendip was to supply twelve bucks and twelve harts.
The berner (bernarius] was the title of the man in charge of
running hounds ; the ventrer or fewterer [veltrarius] had
charge of the greyhounds ; and the berceletter was responsible
for the bercelets or hounds that hunted by scent. The reason
for salting down the venison was because of the difficulty of
obtaining fresh meat in the winter season, when root crops
were unknown, and the expenses of fodder for all kinds of
cattle were so serious. In a few of the forests large larders
were maintained, for the express purpose of salting the venison
when the summer season of hunting was over. In such cases
there was, of course, no necessity to order the sheriff to see to
the salting or pay for the carriage of the meat to the royal
household. There were such larders in Duffield Frith and in
Needwood forest. An example of a year's accounts, con-
54 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
taining references to the local salting, and to the general
distribution of the venison, are here given.
The master forester of Needwood, for the year 1313-14,
was John de Myneers. His venison accounts for the year
show that 95 fat bucks and 12 does were killed in the twelve-
month. Ten of the bucks served for the king's hospitality at
Tutbury, ten more were sent to the king at Melburne, and
twenty-three bucks and six does to the king at Castle Donning-
ton. Six does were sent to Bagworth for the hospitality of
Robert de Holand. Twenty-one bucks were distributed, on
the king's warrant, to John de Ashborne, Walter de Mont-
gomery, and ten other gentlemen. The remainder were salted
down for winter use in the larder. The master forester's
accounts include igs. $d. for 4 qrs. 6 Ibs. of salt for the larder,
whilst 4-s1. t\\d. were paid as wages of the larderer for five weeks'
work.
Nicholas de Hungerford was at the same time (1313-14)
master forester of Duffield Frith. His general accounts for
the forest showed receipts of £15 i6s. o\d. Of this amount
£9 2s. 6d. was paid in wages, 16^. 8d. for salt for salting the
venison, and i stag and 31 bucks and does in the forest larder
at Belper. The deer taken this year, by order of the master
forester, under the warrants of the Earl of Lancaster, were
i stag, 41 bucks, and 25 does. In addition to this, Lord
Robert de Holand — the foundations of whose great moated
house still remain within the Hulland ward — was allowed to
take 20 bucks for the earl's larder. The master forester paid
9-r. 8d. for the carriage of 33 bucks from Belper to Kenilworth,
and 14.?. for the carriage of 12 bucks from Belper to Castle
Donnington, and 4 bucks to Melburne, in accordance with
letters from the earl.
It was the custom in every forest to cut what was usually
termed browsewood or clear browse for the sustenance of the
deer in the winter season. The references to this practice are
innumerable and interesting throughout almost every class of
forest proceedings. Manwood says :—
" When there is not sufficient foode for the deere, neyther of grasse
nor of such fruites, then the forresters that have the charge of the
wild beasts, must provide browsewood to be cut downe for them to
feed upon."
56 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
He also states that the lord of a forest might enter, by his
officers, into any man's wood within the forest limits, to cut
such browsewood for the deer in winter. It was usual to cut
it in the late autumn, and store it ready for sprinkling about
when the severe weather or frosts came. It was supposed to
be cut from twigs that were not more than an inch in circum-
ference, nor heavier than a deer may readily turn up with his
horns. In all forests the browsewood seems to have chiefly
consisted of oak twigs ; but evidence is cited showing that
holly and ivy, as well as maple, hazel, thorn, and ash were
occasionally used for this purpose.
In the more favourite royal forests, such as Rockingham,
Clarendon, and Windsor, a certain amount of hay was also
used for the winter feeding of the deer at an early period, but
in later forest history hay-feeding became commoner.
Everything in the forest was made to give way to the deer,
and where hedges or enclosures of any kind were permitted
for the cultivation of crops, they had always to be constructed
sufficiently low to allow of the ingress and egress of the deer.
The owners of lands adjoining the forest were in the habit,
if they had a grant of imparking, of making certain contriv-
ances called deer-leaps or salteries (saltatoria). These were so
contrived that the deer could readily leap into the park over a
fence of moderate height, but were prevented from returning
by a steep upward slope in the ditch inside the park fence.
Occasionally such deer-leaps were deliberately constructed in
parks within a forest for the convenience of catching or herd-
ing the deer. But there are various instances of deer-leaps
being presented to the justices in eyre as a nuisance to the
forest. If it was within a short distance of the forest, they
had power to order its removal. At the Cumberland eyre of
1285, a presentment was made that Isabel of Clifford had a
park with two deer-leaps, one of which was a mile (leuca), and
the other a mile and a half from the forest of Quinfield. At
an inquisition at Somerton, in 1364, the jurors complained of
two deer-leaps three miles distant from the forest, as detri-
mental to the king's game and contrary to the assize of the
forest.
BUCKSTALLS, etc. — There are various references in forest
proceedings to buckstalls. A buckstall was an extended trap or
HOUNDS AND HUNTING 57
toil for deer, of which nets usually formed a component part ;
but the definition generally given — "a net for taking deer" —
is not sufficient. Earth ramparts and wattled work were also
generally used in its construction ; it was, in fact, a kind of
cunning enclosure wherein the deer could be taken alive, as is
implied in the term deer-hay. A "buckstalle vel dere-hay "
is named in presentments of Clarendon forest.
Matthew de Hathersage, a baron, was presented at the eyre
of 1251 for having a buckstall in his great wood at Hather-
sage, which was distant barely two bow-shots from the king's
forest of the Peak. The baron pleaded that his ancestors had
always had a buckstall in their wood, and that formerly it was
still nearer to the bounds of Peak Forest. The upshot of the
matter was that the decision went against Matthew, who had
to pay a fine of twenty marks.
The master forester of Duffield Frith was instructed to see
that there were no buckstalls set upon the borders of that
forest, and the ministers of each ward were enjoined to pre-
sent at the woodmote the setting of "any haye or buckstakes,
trappes, or springes for deere."
Among the claims at the Pickering eyre of 1334, the prior of
Malton claimed that he and his men were quit of all buck-
stall service, which he explained to mean a duty laid on all
other forest residents of assembling for the purpose of collect-
ing the deer into an enclosure which they have to make for
that purpose, and failing, are heavily fined. The prior failed,
however, to make this part of his claim good. The prior of
Ellerton at the same time claimed a like exemption from
buckstall attendance, and on the production of a charter
of Henry III. his claim in this respect was allowed.
An instance occurred at the forest pleas of Pickering in
1488, in which the term buckstall was used simply for snar-
ing-nets. It was then presented that one Thomas Thomson,
a yeoman, with a number of unknown persons, entered
T31andsby park at midnight with a horse laden cum retibus
vocatis buckstalles et ropes, killing about twenty does. An Act
of Parliament, a few years later, prohibited anyone who was not
the owner of a park, chase, or forest, using a buckstall under
a penalty of £10.
There were various devices, apart from the buckstall or
58 THE ROYAL FORESTS OE ENGLAND
enclosure, used for the snaring of deer. In 1246, the forester
of Brigstock park, Rockingham forest, found two men
setting five snares of horsehair for taking fawns or hares.
The men were taken before the verderers, and gave pledges
to appear at the next eyre. In 1251, a trap was found set
in the same park. Robert, chaplain of Sudborough, was
suspected, and on his house being searched the woodwork
of a trap with the cord broke was found ; on the cord was
deer's hair. In 1255, a snare, consisting of four cords
stretched round a dish of water, was found in the wood of
Bassethawe (Rockingham). The foresters watched all night
to see if anyone would come, but in vain. On the following
day an inquisition was held by the four neighbouring town-
ships, before the stewards of the forest and one of the
verderers. Sir Robert Basset, the owner of the wood, found
twelve pledges to produce Peter, the forester of the wood,
whenever required ; the cords were handed to the verderer to
produce at the next eyre, and the wood of Bassethawe was
taken into the king's hands.
The commonest kind of deer snares seem to have taken two
forms, occasionally both combined ; the one was the inter-
twining of cords between stout stakes in the midst of a usual
deer track, and the other the suspending of halters or looped
ropes in the trees overhead to catch the deer by their heads
or horns. In 1260, five workmen employed in Guildford park
in mending the pales and cutting down oaks for that purpose,
set cords to entangle the deer that came to feed on the fresh
oak leaves. The cords were found by the park-keepers, and
the men bound over to appear at the next eyre. There was an
interval of ten years before an eyre was held, and meanwhile
two of the delinquents had died. The justices, in 1270, fined
the other three half a mark each.
Two labourers in Duffield Frith were committed, in 1321, by
the verderers to appear before the justices to answer a charge
of having set cart-ropes in an opening in the pale fence of
Shottle park, with halters suspended in the trees overhead.
There is another instance of a like snaring of deer, with a cart-
rope and smaller cart gear, at Weybridge, Hunts, in 1455.
The venison indictments at the New Windsor eyre of 1488,
included a charge against Thomas a Clowe, of Clewer, and
HOUNDS AND HUNTING 59
four others, of having fixed halters (capistra) and other snares
in a place called Brodeles, and there with a halter caught,
suspended, and killed a doe, whilst others after a like fashion
had killed a red deer's fawn. They were convicted, and
ordered to appear before the justices at Westminster within
fifteen days.
The forest proceedings at the Waltham swainmotes of the
seventeenth century mention various devices then in use in
Essex for the killing of deer, such as "engines called wyers,
engines made of ropes, withes, dear-hays, buckstalls, and
tramels, and other nets." Mr. Fisher tells us that one of these
nets, described as a " thief net," was baited with bottles, flowers,
and looking-glasses ; an apparatus designed to practise upon
the curiosity of the deer. One man was presented for pitch-
ing halters about a grove; another for "hanging a lyne in
a creepe-hole to ketch a deer."
Among the Cotton collection of the British Museum (Tib.
A. vii.), is a fourteenth-century illuminated manuscript called
The Pilgrim. The pilgrim meets with every variety of tempta-
tion at the hands of the devil. Entering a forest district, he is
tempted by the Evil One to catch both fish and game, and is
taught how to net and snare both river and woods. The
picture of this incident (Plate vm.) gives a realistic idea of
the commoner forms of deer snaring.
CHEMINAGE and FENCE MONTH. — It has been disputed
whether the term "cheminage" — that is to say, way-leave or
passage through a forest in return for payment — was ever used
apart from the fence month. In particulars to be inquired
into by the jury of the Duchy of Lancaster, in the honour of
Pickering, one of the articles runs :—
" Whoe receiveth the Chummage yearlie within the foreste,
namelie, a tax upon cartes and cariages, traveylinge over the
foreste in fence moneth, formerlie sometimes xiily. \\\\d. per annum,
t sometimes more ? "
Nevertheless, at various dates, the term "cheminage" is
frequently used without any limitation to a particular month,
and is perhaps best defined as a toll for wayfarage through
a forest.
The chymynagium of Duffield Frith pertained to Robert
60 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Ferrers, Earl of Derby, in the reign of Stephen. Henry II.
granted cheminage throughout the whole forest of Pickering
to the burgesses of Scarborough, a right confirmed on several
subsequent occasions.
The fourteenth section of the Charter of the Forest, 1217,
provided that it was only a forester-of-fee who had a right of
cheminage, namely, for carriage by cart for the half-year, 2d.,
and the same for the other half-year ; for a horse that bare
loads, \d. the half-year. But this fee was only to be taken of
those who came as merchants from outside foresters' bailiwick;
cheminage was not to be taken for any other carriage by cart.
Those who bore on their back brushwood, bark, or charcoal,
though it was their living, were to pay no cheminage to the
king's foresters unless they took it in the royal demesne woods.
The confirmation granted by Henry III. in 1256, to the
burgesses of Scarborough, stated that they were to be quit of
cheminage throughout the whole forest of Pickering, so that
they might carry timber, brushwood, turf, heather, fern, and
all else freely, wherever and whenever they pleased, except
during the fence month. The priors of Malton and of Ellerton
established their claims to be free of any payment, great or
small, for the passage of their loaded carts, wagons, or pack-
saddles throughout Pickering forest. The hospital of Crick-
lade had a like exemption in the Wiltshire forest of Braydon.
The fence month, or in Latin mensis vetitus^ which lasted
from fifteen days before Midsummer to fifteen days after, was
the special time when the deer required quiet and protection,
for it was just about the usual time for fawning. The whole
principle of cheminage was to prevent forest roads being freely
used, so as to check disturbance of the king's game. These
precautions were naturally redoubled during this particular
season. In several forests agistment of pigs, and sometimes
of cattle and horses, was permitted during the fence month,
but in all such cases the agistment fee was very largely
increased. So too with cheminage.
In certain forests the money for way-leave was materially
increased during that month ; whilst in some cases, as at Cran-
borne Chase and in Pickering forest during its later period,
such fees were only collected during that time. It was also
customary in some forest districts, as at Rockingham, to allow
Si
el
<
O *
HOUNDS AND HUNTING 61
the different townships within the forest to be rated at a certain
sum, in proportion to the number of their carts, for way-leave
during the prohibited period. In the stricter forests all passage
for carts, etc., was absolutely forbidden to all outsiders in this
month.
A toll of 4^. for every cart or wagon, and a id. for every
packhorse crossing over Harnham Bridge, near Salisbury,
into Cranborne Chase, was paid as a check upon travelling
during the fence month, as late as the early part of last century.
This toll was collected by virtue of a warrant from Lord Rivers,
and during the month a pair of deer's antlers were fixed on the
bridge as a warning to travellers.
HUNTING TREATISES. — Twici's Le Art de Venerie, written in
Norman-French, is the oldest book on hunting in England.
William Twici was huntsman to Edward II., and wrote
this short treatise, circa 1325, at the end of the reign. There
is a record on the Close Rolls of July, 1322, of Twici being
sent by the king to the forests of Lancaster to take fat
venison, with a lardener, two berners, four ventrers, a page,
twenty greyhounds, and forty harthounds ; the sheriff was to
pay Twici 7\d. a day for his own wages, 2d. a day to each of
the berners and ventrers, id. a day to the page, and \d. a day
for each of the hounds. From a later Close Roll entry we find
that William Twici died, as a royal pensioner, in the abbey of
Reading in the spring of 1328. It may therefore fairly be
assumed that he wrote his short treatise when in retirement at
Reading towards the close of his life.
An early English version of this tract, wherein the name of
John Gyfford is associated with Twici, is among the British
Museum MSS. (Cott. MSS. Vesp. B. xii.). This was privately
printed by the late Sir Henry Dryden, Bart., in 1843, with
introduction, notes, and illustrations, making a book of eighty
pages.
The Master of Game, written between 1406 and 1413 by one of
Edward III.'s grandsons, Edward, the second Duke of York, is
a translation from the French of the celebrated hunting-book
Livre de Chasse. The author of this French treatise was Count
Gaston de Foix, who began to write it on ist May, 1387. Of
the thirty-six chapters of The Master of Game, only the last
three, and a paragraph at the opening of the first chapter or
62 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
prologue are original. The titles of the last three chapters
are : (i) " How the hert shuld be snaryd with the lymer, and
ronne to and slayn with strength"; (2) "How an hunter
shuld seke and fynde the hare with rennyng houndes, and slee
here with strength"; and (3) " Of the Ordinaunce of the
maner of hundyng whan the king wil hunt in foreste or
parke for the hert with bowes, greyhoundes and stable." It will
therefore be seen that, interesting as this translation of a French
book is, it throws but little, if any, light on ordinary English
hunting and forest customs, for that which it does state in the
words of the Duke of York, only applies to the formal hunting
of the Court on a grand scale. It is the lack of knowledge of
original and contemporary forest proceedings in England that
has led so many writers astray. When purporting to write
about England, they have really been writing about France,
and the Continental customs relative to forests and forest
hunting differed as widely in mediaeval days from those in use
in our own country, as does "sport" in the two countries at
the present time.
The best manuscript of The Master of Game is the one in
the British Museum (Cott. MSS. Vesp. B. xii.), written about
1440. It is from this copy that several of the illustrations of
this volume are taken.
Prefixed to this manuscript is the English rendering of the
Twici tract (first printed in Wright and Halliwell's Reliquice
Antiqucc in 1541), whilst the two opening folios contain the
following rhymes, the work of the fifteenth-century tran-
scriber, which are rendered more valuable by the three small
groups of wild animals of English forests, here reproduced :—
Alle suche dysport as voydith ydilnesse,
It syttyth every gentilman to knowe,
For myrthe annexed is to gentilnesse,
Qwerfore among- alle othyr as y trowe
To knowe the crafte of hontyng, and to blowe
As thys book shall witnesse is one the beste,
For it is holsum, plesaunt, and honest.
And for to settle yonge hunterys in the way,
To venery y caste me fyrst to go,
Of wheche iiij bestis be that is to say,
The hare, the herte, the wulfhe, the wylde boor also,
Of venery for sothe there be no moe ;
And so it shewith here in porteteure
Where every best is set in hys figure.
HOUNDS AND HUNTING 63
And ther ben othyr bestis v of chase,
The buk the first, the do the secunde,
The fox the thryde, whiche ofte hath hard grace,
The forthe the martyn, and the last the Roo.
And sothe to say there be no mo of tho.
And cause why, that men shulde the more be sur'
They shewen here also in portreture.
Is this like as lecteture put thyngf in mende
Of lerned men ryghte so a peyntyde fygure,
Rememberyth men unlernyd in his kende ;
And in wryghtyng- for soothe the same I fynde.
Therfore, sith lerned may lerne in this book
Be ymag'es shal the lewd if he wole look.
And iij othyr bestis ben of gret disport
That ben neyther 01 venery ne chace.
In huntynge ofte thti doe gret comfort,
As aftir ye shal here in othyr place.
The grey is one therof with hyse slepy pace,
The cat an othyr, the otre one also,
Now rede this book, and ye shal fynde yt so.
In the light of these rhymes and their classification of the
wild animals, it at once becomes, apparent whence Manwood
derived his misleading lists, so continuously cited, of
(legal) beasts of the forest and of the chase.
The four beasts of venery — the hart, wolf, wild boar, and hare
— were sylvestres ; that is, they spent their days in the woods and
coppices, and were taken by what was considered true hunting,
being tracked and roused by the lymers or lymer hounds, and
afterwards pursued by the pack (Plate ix.).
But the fallow and roe deer, with the fox and martin, were
beasts of chase ; that is, they were campestres, or found in the
open country by day, and therefore required none of the
niceties of tracking and harbouring in the thickets, but were
roused straight away by the packs of hounds (Plate x.).
The third group, neither of venery nor chase, were the
badger, wild cat, and otter (Plate XL).
The Boke of Saint Albans is the earliest English printed
treatise on hunting. It was first issued at St. Albans in 1486.
The author, according to the second edition, was Dame Julyana
Bernes. Two other tracts, the one on hawking and the other
on heraldry, were published with it, whilst to the second
edition (1496) was added a fourth tract on fishing. This
rhymed account of hunting is based partly on Twici and partly
64 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
on the Duke of York's version of Livre de Chasse ; it possesses
no originality.
The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting, by George Turbervile,
of which the first edition was issued in 1575 and the second in
1611, is almost a literal translation of Jacques du Fouilloux's
La Venerie, first printed in 1560. The illustrations are also
identical with those of the French work, save for one or two
exceptions, and several of them are made to do service more
than once with different headings. The book is only of small
service as an exponent of English hunting customs.
Sir Thomas Cockayne's Short Treatise of Hunting is a very
rare and delightful tract of thirty-two pages, published in 1591.
It is most genuinely English throughout, and gives the writer's
own experiences of the different kinds of hunting then pre-
valent. He recommends that roe deer should be hunted from
the beginning of March till Whitsuntide.
The seventeenth century supplied two works of some
celebrity on the sport of hunting. That prolific writer,
Gervase Markam, brought out the first edition of Country
Contentments in 1615, wherein hunting holds the foremost
place. Before the end of the century this work had passed
through fifteen editions. The second was The Gentleman's
Recreation, compiled by Richard Blane, a literary hack, and
first issued in folio in 1686. Its chief value is in the plates,
which aptly illustrate the sporting costume of that period.
In the eighteenth century books and essays on hunting
multiplied ; but the one memorable production, first printed in
1781, was Beckford's charming and scholarly work, Thoughts
upon Hunting.
HUNTING COSTUMES. — One of the most valuable features of
Sir Henry Dryden's annotated Twici is the discussion on the
costume of foresters, huntsmen, and their attendants. The plates
illustrative of their dress are borrowed from that rare little
treatise. Royalty and the nobility hunted on horseback, wear-
ing their usual riding dress, as is evidenced by a great variety
of illuminated manuscripts. The king's huntsman was also
usually mounted, and there was generally one riding forester
to each forest ; but the ordinary class of huntsmen, berners,
varlets, etc., were on foot. In the thirteenth century they are
generally represented (p. 182) as wearing close-fitting caps,
PLATE XI
THE THREE BEASTS OF SPORT
BADGER, WILD CAT, AND OTTER
HOUNDS AND HUNTING 65
and tied under the chin ; they were probably of leather, not of
cloth, as suggested by Sir Henry Dryden. Their long loose
robes seem unsuitable for active work, but they were perhaps
more closely girt for action than artists cared, with an eye for
flowing lines, to represent them. The foremost, with horse,
represents the huntsman, and his attendants carry respectively
a boar-spear and a long-bow.
The two figures of the fourteenth century (p. 238) are taken
from the representation in Stothard's Monumental Effigies
of the highly interesting wall-painting, now almost obliterated,
at the back of the canopied recess over Sir Oliver Ingham's
tomb at Ingham church, Norfolk. He died in 1344. Both
figures wear cowls, or caps and short capes in one. In
shape they resemble the camail in armour of that period ; and
they were probably of cloth, as they were coloured green in the
painting. The short jupon of the figures on the left, also
coloured green, is open at the sides to the hips, where a few
buttons close the upper part of the slit. The legs were grey in
the painting, and were probably worsted trunk-hose. The
brass-studded bawdrick was of red leather. Four arrows show
from a quiver worn at the back, and the long-bow is held in
the left hand. The attachments of the horn to the bawdrick
and of the quiver to the body is not shown, and had probably
disappeared when the drawing was made. The figure on the
right, in the act of stringing his bow, is attired after much the
same fashion, but he wears a longer coat buttoned down the
breast, also painted green, and round the waist is a brown
leather quiver belt.
The fourteenth-century figures on page 55 are taken from
an illustration in the Phillipps MSS. copy of Gaston de Foix,
and show a considerable similarity between the hunting cos-
tume of England and France. Figure i in this picture, having
unharboured a buck, has coiled the lymer's cord round his arm ;
a white leather scrip or bag is attached to a black belt ; the coat
is green, and the camail and stockings red. Figure 2 is a
berner, dressed much the same as the harbourer, but having
wide sleeves to his coat. Figure 3 represents a berner or har-
bourer on his walks in the wood with lymer and cord ; his coat
is green, and his red cowl has a dagged ornamental appen-
dage.
66 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
At Newland, Gloucestershire, is the defaced fifteenth-century
coarse stone effigy of Jenkin Wyrall, forester-of-fee in Dean
forest, who died in 1457.
The two illustrations given of this tomb show the forester
wearing a peculiar loose cap, folded in plaits and knotted
at the top. He wears a loose frock or jupon, with full sleeves
and a short skirt, trunk-hose, and low boots. The horn on
the right side is small, whilst on the left side is slung, by
double straps, a short hanger or hunting sword. His feet
appropriately rest on a brache or hound.
Sir Henry Dryden was mistaken in considering this "the
; Ijjtljt -Junk nujjralu )omcr • of act :th(iiubprI);oyJtfcb:.oT\;t|)(
WYRALL EFFIGY
only effigy of a forester in hunting costume in England."
In the church of Skegby, near Mansfield, is the fourteenth-cen-
tury stone effigy of one who must have been a forester-of-fee or
some forest minister of Sherwood forest. The photographic
plate (No. xix.) gives a vivid picture of his dress. He wears a
close-fitting cap, probably of leather ; the tight-fitting sleeves
of his inner jerkin show at the wrists through the short hanging
sleeves of the outer garment, and over it he wears a tippet that
had doubtless a cowl at the back. A hunter's horn hangs at
the right side, suspended from a strap over the left shoulder.
The feet rest on a hound.
The quaint figures on page 89 are drawn from scenes in
pargeting work on the George Inn, Forster's (or Forester's)
HOUNDS AND HUNTING
Booth, Northumberland, dated 1637, on the edge of the old
forest of Whittlewood. The man in front with a spear is lead-
ing a fox by a chain which his greyhound has caught, whilst
the dog is coursing a hare. The other man is blowing the
mort at the capture of a hart by a brache. The dress may be
left to speak for itself. Unlike the other figures illustrated,
both men wear leather gauntlets.
WYRALL EFFIGY
CHAPTER VII
THE TREES OF THE FOREST
AFTER the end of the glacial period, the first of the trees
to obtain firm lodgment in the soil would be the hardiest
kinds, such as the birch, elder, aspen, and willow, to-
gether with the more sturdy shrubs, such as the holly, juniper,
blackthorn, whitethorn, and gorse. As time advanced, the
more gregarious kinds, such as the oak and hazel, so abundant
among the fossil flora, would follow ; whilst other trees, such
as the beech, ash, hornbeam, and sycamore would gain foot-
hold in their respective localities. Most of the other trees that
have been for many centuries of common occurrence in this
country, such as the English elm, sweet chestnut, lime, and
poplar, were introduced during the Roman occupation.
Our earliest known forest laws paid great attention to the
preservation of timber, more especially lest their destruction
or the disturbance of the woods should be prejudicial to the
king's game. The forest law attributed to Canute states that
anyone touching wood or underwood in a royal forest, without
the licence of the forest ministers, was to be held guilty of a
breach of the chase. Anyone cutting an oak or other tree
that bore fruit for the deer was to pay 2os. to the king in
addition.
Henry II., by the Assize of Woodstock, ordained that
foresters were to be held responsible for the destruction of
demesne woods. The sale of any of the king's wood without
warrant was prohibited.
In most forests, tenants, as well as privileged persons in the
vicinity, had limited rights to housebote, haybote, and firebote,
or to one or more of these privileges ; that is to say, wood
68
THE TREES OF THE FOREST 69
necessary for maintaining their houses, mending their hedges,
and supplying their hearths and ovens with fuel. Thus, in
addition to the claims of ordinary tenants, the abbot of Darley,
the parson of Duffield, the parson of Mugginton, the heirs of
Peter Nevill, the heirs of Cardell, the heirs of Bradburn, the
heirs of Kniveton of Mercaston, the heirs of Bradshaw, and
the heirs of four other families all claimed and used the liberty
of having housebote, haybote, and firebote in Duffield Frith.
With regard to the question of the vert of the forest, some-
times called by the picturesque English term of " green hue,"
it included all trees, whether bearing deer fruit (such as acorns
and beech mast) or not, as well as underwood. That which
grew in the demesne woods of the king was, according to
Manwood, "special vert," and the damaging of it was a
greater offence than the interference with other vert in private
woods within the forest ; but of such distinctions the records
of the local courts or eyres contain but little trace. In all
cases, however, the penalties were more severe on those who
dwelt outside the forest. Anyone using wagons to take tim-
ber out of demesne woods not only incurred a fine in propor-
tion to the value of the timber, but, if the offence was repeated,
also forfeited both wagon and team. Instances of this are
cited in the account of Pickering forest.
In 1287, as stated subsequently in chapter xvi., the justices
drew up special vert by-laws for Sherwood forest, which are
of much interest and precision.
If the regarders reported that a wood in private hands had
been wasted, the Crown had a right to take it into its own
hands, provided the justices in eyre confirmed such present-
ment. There are various instances of the Crown seizing such
woods in the forest of Essex during the reign of Edward I. ;
and in 1323 the prior of Bermondsey had his wood seized by
the Crown on account of waste. Such woods were usually
redeemed on payment of substantial penalties.
The connivance of forest officers in vert offences was
frequently brought before eyres by the reports of the re-
garders, notably in the case of Pickering.
The oak, as might naturally be supposed, was the chief
forest tree in every part of England, and its timber was the
most valuable. The special grants of timber from royal
70 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
forests that were so frequently made by our kings, from John
to Edward III., almost invariably specify that the wood was
oak. Such grants were largely made to religious houses, both
for their conventual buildings and their churches ; they were
also made from time to time for the repairs or the erection of
mills, bridges, castles, and manor houses. The trunks of
these oaks were, for the most part, sent whole to the recipients,
but occasionally the master forester had orders to supply so
many rafters, joists, tie-beams, or other roof timber ready for
use, and not infrequently shingles ready-trimmed for roofing,
or trees suitable for such a purpose. The selection of the trees
for timber purposes was usually left to the master forester or
keeper ; but in some cases, particularly where a river ran
through a forest, it was suggested in the warrant that trees
should be felled which were most convenient for carriage.
Gifts of dead trees for firewood were fairly common, par-
ticularly to the religious houses, whilst a great number of
monasteries obtained chartered rights of sending carts into
the forest on particular days or at special seasons to obtain
fuel for their fires or ovens.
Oaks were also the usual trees assigned as a perquisite to
the various officials at the time of holding an eyre ; and they
were also the "fee-trees" assigned yearly to certain forest
ministers.
When the master forester of Duffield drew up his list of
trees felled through divers orders of the Earl of Lancaster for
the year 1313-14, they amounted to sixteen oaks (quercus] and
six robura. The precise meaning of robur, and in what it
differed from quercus^ is by no means easy to ascertain. The
two terms appear side by side in almost every old forest
account throughout England. Mr. Turner gives an interest-
ing dissertation on this (Pleas of the Forest, 147-8), wherein
he cites many uses of the word robur ; it is there considered
that it is equivalent to a pollarded tree of oak or any other
kind. A wider range of references, and particularly those of
a later date than the thirteenth century, would, we think,
qualify much that is there stated. Probably it may usually
mean an oak which has been pollarded ; but is it not possible
that quercus and robur, at all events in some forest rolls, were
the two indigenous varieties of oak, sessiliflora and pedun-
THE TREES OF THE FOREST 71
culata ? The old foresters could scarcely have failed to notice
the difference of their appearance, and particularly the decided
difference of texture in their timber. The word " roer," as an
English form of robur, occurs in the later forest accounts of
Clarendon and other south of England forests, and it will
therefore be adopted for subsequent use in these pages.
The sweet chestnut (Castanea vesca) has given rise to con-
siderable and warm discussion as to its claim to be an indi-
genous tree. On the whole, the soundest opinion seems to be
that it is of foreign importation at an early date. The oft cited
supposed quotation from Fitzstephen, originated by Evelyn,
alleging that there was in his days a great forest of chestnuts
near to London, turns out to be an invention, for the chestnut
is not even mentioned in the particular passage. The idea
also, at one time so current and still confidently held by a few,
that chestnut wood forms the roofs of many of our oldest
churches and at Westminster Hall, proves on examination to
be a fable. In all these cases the wood is in reality the close-
grained oak of the sessiliflora variety.
There was, however, at least one place in England where
chestnuts grew in abundance, and had attained considerable
size as early as the twelfth century. This was in the forest of
Dean. The tithe of chestnuts in that forest was granted by
Henry II. to the abbey of Flaxley. This chestnut wood was
evidently much prized and esteemed a great rarity. The old
name for Flaxley, as mentioned in the foundation charter, was
the valley of Castiard, a place-name probably derived from the
presence of the chestnut trees. In the regard of the forest of
Dean, taken in preparation for the eyre of 1280, it was pre-
sented that the wood of chestnuts had much deteriorated since
the last eyre through the bad custody of Ralph Abbenhale, the
forester-of-fee of the baily of Abbenhale. The regarders found
there thirty-four stumps of chestnuts that had recently been
felled, of which Robert de Clifford, the justice, had had two
for making tables.
There is mention made in a New Forest account roll, temp.
Ed. III., of a chestnut wood (bosco de castaneariis}.
The lime, or linden tree (Tilia Europcea), is considered by
some to be indigenous to England, whilst others regard it as
an introduction of the Romans. It obtains occasional and
72 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
interesting mention in forest proceedings and accounts. It
was chiefly valued, as it is in some parts at the present day,
for its inner bark, which was largely used for the making of
mats and cordage.
This bark was termed bast or bass ; hassocks covered with
these bark strips, and fish mats are still often called basses.
In Duffield Frith, where the limes were numerous and specially
guarded, the regulations provided that " every keeper of wardes
shall have a baste rope of them that bee layd to basting when
the basting falls in their office, and all the wood that the
basters cut the first day is the keepers, and the residue that is
cut after in common to the king's tenantes." By another
ordinance, the tenants were entitled to the small boughs of
linte or lime trees blown down by the wind to the value of half
a load, and also to "the linte in baisting time," which was
common to them after the first day.
Among the claims made by the tenants of Needwood forest
was that of "hoar lynte." This was the term used in other
parts, as well as in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, for the white
wood of the lime tree after the basters had stripped it of the
inner bark.
In the time of Philip and Mary, the parker and sub-parker of
Redlington park, in the Rutland-Leicester forest, were pre-
sented for felling three lime trees ("Le lyneray trees") worth
6s. 8d. each.
The maple (Acer campestre) was known under the name of
arabilis in the earlier forest proceedings, where it is of fairly
frequent occurrence; but towards the opening of the fourteenth
century the English word maple, in such forms as " mappill,"
" mapull," and " mapeles," begun to take its place, and occurs
many times among the smaller trees or undergrowth in the
sixteenth century.
The most interesting entry in the receipts for Colebrook
ward, Duffield Frith, for the year 1313-14, is the large sum. of
£12 i8s. 6d. from the sale of wood for making bowls (bolas).
Common bowls were made of various woods, but the beauti-
fully polished non-porous bowls of well-marked maple wood
fetched a high price, and were often strengthened and adorned
with bands and plates of silver. Suitable wood for the making
of these "masers" was doubtless found in Colebrook ward.
THE TREES OF THE FOREST 73
In the hedgerows of this part of old Duffield forest, and in the
present parks and woods of Alderwasley, maple trees still grow
to an unusual size.
It is but rarely that the maple is found in England of any
size. William Gilpin, the author of Forest Scenery ', says of it :
"The maple is an uncommon tree, though a common bush."
The finest maple tree in the kingdom is the one in Boldre
churchyard (Plate xn.); it stands appropriately over Gilpin's
grave; he was rector of Boldre for twenty years, dying in 1804.
The beech is named with a fair amount of frequency in forest
accounts ; there were beech woods of some size in Windsor,
Pickering, Northamptonshire, and Clarendon forests, and it is
often named in Hampshire records. The Windsor records
show that beech was used for shipbuilding purposes.
The birch, alder, crab-apple, hornbeam, ash, blackthorn,
whitethorn, and holly occur from time to time". The hazel was
common everywhere ; in Pickering it was sufficiently abundant
to make the nut geld, or payments for licence to gather nuts,
an item of some importance in the forest accounts. The elm is
of very rare and late occurrence.
The dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. proved
a severe blow to the woods in the forests. A large number of
these woods, some in almost every forest, had belonged to the
religious houses. No sooner had they passed to the Crown or
into private hands than the greater part of them were cleared
of timber. In 1543 an Act for the preservation of timber was
passed, the preamble of which laid emphasis on its great decay
and likelihood of scarcity, as well for building houses and
ships as for firewood. It was enacted that in copse of under-
wood, felled at twenty-four years' growth, there were to be left
twelve standrells or store oaks on each acre, or in default of
oaks, so many elm, ash, or beech, etc. When cut under
fourteen years' growth, the ground was to be enclosed or pro-
•tected for four years. Wood cut from fourteen to twenty-four
years of age was to be enclosed for six years. Cutting trees
on waste or common lands was to be punished by forfeiting
6s. 8d. for each felled tree. This and other Acts of Henry VIII.
and Edward VI. were extended and confirmed by the i3th
of Elizabeth cap. 25. A later Elizabethan Act provided for
the whipping of idle persons cutting or spoiling any wood,
74 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
underwood, or standing trees, provided they could not pay
the fine.
Certain Elizabethan forest surveys, such as those for Duffield
Frith, give the fullest possible particulars as to forest timber
and undergrowth, enumerating every tree.
A survey of the timber of the Lancaster forests taken in
1587 supplies much detailed information. Quernmore forest
is described as having a circuit of six miles. In it was Easton
wood of six acres, set with alder, hazel, and whitethorn of
forty years' growth, worth IDS. the acre, and also containing
five score small sapling for timber trees, worth $s. each. In
another wood, called New Kent, were forty dotard oaks for
firewood, worth 2s. each ; and forty small saplings, worth 5^.
each. Dickson Carr, "sundray besett with aller (alder) of an
evil growth," was to be got up and new planted. Details are
also given of four other small woods within the park, and
there were in addition 140 dotard oaks, worth 2s. each, stand-
ing about in different places.
Full particulars are also given of Quernmore forest, outside
the park ; the largest wood, Hollinhead, was four miles about,
and contained 100 saplings, worth 6s. 8d. each ; on Rowend
Hill were 128 oaks, worth 'js. each; at Ashpotts were alder
and hazel of twenty years' growth, worth 4^. an acre ; and on
another hill 212 small saplings, at 5^. each, etc. This timber
was reserved for the repair of Lancaster Castle, and of the
tenants' houses, when they had need, on the testimony of six
sworn men, and of the fish garths and weirs on the waters of
the Lune. From 1577 to 1587 eighty timber trees had been
supplied for the repair of that castle at an average value of
6s. 8d. a tree. Three hundred and fifty trees had been used in
that period for firebote and housebote of the tenants, eighty
for fish garths and weirs, twenty for park gates and dogstakes,
and forty dotard trees for fuel. A single fee-tree, in addition
to 2s. worth of fuel wood, was also granted yearly to the
auditor, receiver, surveyor, head steward, clerk of the court,
woodward, and axebearer.
In Wyersdale, this survey shows that there were a good
many ash and birch trees, as well as holly, alder, blackthorn,
and whitethorn. The tenants were entitled to the wood they
required for repairs on the testimony of six sworn men.
THE TREES OF THE FOREST 75
Spyre, or spire, is a word found in some of the later wood
accounts ; it denoted a young upstanding tree, and is still
occasionally used by woodmen.
The term blestro, or blettro, occurs frequently in earlier attach-
ment court rolls (e.g. Plate in.); it means a sapling, usually
of oak. Stubb, or stub, in like records, appears to signify a
dead or decaying pollarded tree, and not a mere stump.
CHAPTER VIII
LATER FOREST HISTORY
THE later history of the forests, in the time of their decay,
is briefly treated of at the close of most of the follow-
ing chapters that deal with the different counties. But
there are a few general and particular statements relative to
the forests from the time of Henry VIII. to George III. that it
is found best to cite in a separate section.
In 1538-9, an interesting return was made of all the "kinge
his game," both red and fallow, north of the Trent, arranged
under counties and parks (Misc. Bks. 77). The parks of the
duchy are not included.
Nottingham.
Bestwood Park . . 700 fallow, 140 red.
Clypston Park . . 60 ,, 20 ,,
Grynley Park . . 150 ,,
Sherwood Forest . . about 1,000 red.
Yorkshire.
Galtres Forest . . 800 fallow.
Haitfeld Chase . . 700 red.
Gredling Park . . 60 fallow.
Pontefract Park . . 434 ,,
Wakefield New Park . 200 ,,
Ackworth Park . . 21 ,,
Rypax Park . . . 45 ,,
Eltoftes Park . . 15 ,,
Wakefield Old Park . 40 ,,
Conisborough Park . . 440 ,,
Raskell Park . . 120 ,,
Bristwick Park . . 160 ,,
Likenfeld Park . . 429 ,,
76
LATER FOREST HISTORY
Yorkshire — continued.
Calton Park . . 30 fallow.
Wressel Park . . 50 ,,
Newsome Park . . 72 ,, 17 red.
Topcliff Great Park . . 435 ,,
Topcliff Little Park . . 247 ,,
Spofforth Park . 175 ,,
Wensdale Forest . . 610 ,, 60 red.
Pickering Forest . . 140 ,, 50 ,,
Durham.
Teesdale Forest . 210 ,, 140 ,,
Northumberland.
Alnwick Park and members . 500 ,,
Warkworth Park . no ,,
Yorkshire.
Hurst Park . . 120 ,,
Sherif Hutton . . 400 ,,
Temple Newsom . . go ,,
Phipping Park . . 30
77
Total 6,352 fallow.
2,067 red-
The ill-judged attempt of Charles I. and his advisers to
reimpose forest law is treated of under the respective forests
where the boldest efforts in this direction were made. This was
particularly the case in Oxfordshire, where an endeavour was
made to levy most extravagant penalties. The Peak Forest is
an instance of amicable arrangement between the Crown and
the forests tenants; while Duffield Frith, in the same county, is
a striking instance of resistance.
In 1639, Charles I. issued the following order for distribution
of fat venison to the foreign ambassadors then in England : —
" Right trusty and wel-beloved Cozen and Counsellor, we greet you
well. Whereas we have sent you a schedule under our signe manuell
in which were mentioned such number of deere of this season as we
are pleased to bestow upon the Ambassadors and Agents of divers
Princes residing with us, together with the severall Parks and Walks
wherein we purpose the said Deere shall be killed, We will and
comand you forthwith to cause your severall warrants to be directed to
78 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
every of the keepers of the said Parks and Walks, Authorising them to
kill and deliver the said Deer according to our pleasure expressed in
the said Schedule. And hereof ye are not to fayle, any restraint for
killing of our Deere comandment or privy token given to the con-
trary notwithstanding. And this our letter shall be your sufficient
warrant and discharge in that behalf. Given under our signet at our
Court at Oatlands the last day of July in the Fourteenth yeare
of our reigne. -CHARLES R."
The schedule particularises: — Three bucks for the French
Ambassador, from Hyde Park, Woodford Walk, and Windsor
Great Park ; three for the Venetian Ambassador, from Windsor
Little Park, Bushie Park, and Epping Walk ; three for the
States Ambassador, from Theobald Park (2) and Chingford
Walk ; two for the King of Spain's Agent, from West Henalt
Walk and Chappell Henalt Walk ; two for the Queen of
Bohemia's Agent, from Lowton Walk and Theobald Park ;
two for the Queen and Crown of Sweden's Agent, from Lowton
Walk and New Lodge Walk in Essex Forest ; two for the
Duke of Saxony's Agent, from Enfield Great Park and Enfield
Chase ; and two for the Duke of Florence's Agent, from
Walthamstow Walk and Enfield Chase.
At the same date the king ordered twenty-two bucks and one
stag to be sent to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Recorder of
the City of London. The bucks were mostly from the royal
parks round London, but four came from Salcey Forest and one
from Grafton Park in Northamptonshire ; the stag was from
the Great Park at Ampthill.
The following list of Christmas venison supplied to Charles I.
in London is the last trace that we can find of the purveying
of venison from the forests at large for the royal household.
" Venizon brought to Whitehall against Christmas in anno 1640 for
ye expence of his Majestie's house, and issued out by my Lords war-
rants out of the severall forests, chaces and parks as followeth, viz. :
Does.
To Whittle wood Forest . . .12
To Cheut Forest . . . .04
To Claringdon Parke . . . .08
To New Forest . . . .12
To South Beare . . . .02
To Salcey Forest . . . -03
LATER FOREST HISTORY 79
Does.
To Rockingham Forest. . . .24
To Holmeby Parke . . . .02
To Grafton Parke . . . .04
To Whichwood Forest . . . .06
To Ampthill Parke . . . .04
To Alice Holt Forest . . . . 03
To Waybridge Parke . . . .04
To Enfield Chace . . . .04
To Somersham Parke and Chace . . 04
To Windsor Great Parke . . .02
To Higham Ferrers Parke . . .02
To the Old Lodge Walk in Cranborn Chace . 02
To New Lodge Walk in Windsor Forest . 02
Totall ..... 104 does
To Ampthill .... iij hindes
To Loughton Walke . . . j hinde
To Egham Walke . . j hinde
Totall . ... 5 hindes "
On January i8th, 1641-2, the king issued his licence to the
"Noble French Lord, the Baron of Vieville," second son of
the Marquis of Vieville, "to hunt and kill with his hounds or
beagles the game of hares " within all forests, chases, parks,
and warrens this side the Trent, for his recreation.
On the re-establishment of the monarchy, Charles II. took
various measures, not only to preserve forest timber, but also
to restock several of the royal forests with deer. He also
accepted various presents of foreign deer from abroad. In
1661 ^54 was paid to Harman Splipting, " Mr of the ship
Angel Gabriell," for freight of stags from the Duke of Olden-
burgh. A further sum of £176 8s. 8d. was disbursed for a
parcel of deer sent to His Majesty by the Duke of Branden-
burgh. During the same year £75 was paid in keepers' fees, at
5^. per head, for 300 deer presented to the king by several
noblemen and others, and delivered at Windsor and Waltham
forests and Enfield Chase.
In 1662, £15 was paid for "keeping German deer at Wan-
stead" during the winter ; and £42 5.?. 6d. for three new wagons
for moving deer and the rent of a place in which to keep them.
8o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
In the same year .£18 was disbursed for twelve " brasshorns"
for the king's huntsmen.
A brief undated account of all the forests within the Duchy
of Lancaster during the reign of George I. names the
following : —
Lancashire. — Quarnmore, Blasedale, and Wyersdale ; "the
inhabitants inclose divers partes thereof, and doe therein what
seemes good to them."
Amounderness ; the like.
"The parke of Myerscough and the Keepership; lately granted
to Benjamin Houghton, Esq., during pleasure; by the same
grant he is steward of the forest of Quarnmore, and account-
able to the king for the profits. The herbage of the park of
Myerscough leased to — Tildersley, Esquire."
Yorkshire. — The park of Ackworth, granted with the manor
to the city of London, in which there is a covenant for keeping
the park stored with deer, "near the Castle of Pontefract,
which hath been and was (4 Charles I.) a most princely struc-
ture," razed to the ground in the civil wars.
The park of Pontefract, leased to Robert Monkton, Esquire,
saving all great trees, etc.
The forest of Pickering Castle and manor leased for 99 years
to Mr. Dallowe, but not the forest.
The forest of Knaresborough ; large encroachments.
Staffordshire. — The forest of Needwood ; granted to William,
Duke of Devonshire, William, Marquis of Hartington, and
Henry Lord Cavendish, with the offices of Steward of the
House, and Constable of the Castle of Tutbury, Lieutenant of
the Forest, Master of the Game, and Bailiff of the New
Liberties.
Castlehey park ; granted for 99 years, in 1677, to Henry
Seymor, Esquire.
The parks of Hanbury and Tutbury ; granted for 99 years,
in 1698, to Edward Vernon, Esq.
Hylings and Russey parks ; granted for 99 years, in 1698, to
Sir John Turton.
Buckinghamshire. — Olney park and Silwood coppice ;
granted to James Earl of Northampton, for 99 years, in 1673.
Hampshire. — Samborne or How park ; granted in 1663 to
Mrs. Mary Blagge, widow.
LATER FOREST HISTORY 81
Wilts. — Braydon forest ; part belongs to the Exchequer and
part to the Duchy.
Middlesex. — The Chase of Enfield ; granted in 1687 to Lord
Lisburn for 50 years, with all the offices, from Master of the
Game to Woodwards.
In the early part of the eighteenth century Waltham Chase,
Hants, was made notorious by the operations of a gang of
deer-stealers, who were known throughout the district by the
name of "Waltham Blacks," from their custom of blacking
their faces for their nightly forays to escape identification.
Like the deer stealers of Cranborne Chase, on the other side of
the county, of the same period, they preferred to be known by
the name of Hunters, and considered their actions fit to be
ranked among deeds of bravery. So strange was their infatua-
tion that, as Gilbert White tells us in his Natural History of
Selborne, no young person was allowed to be possessed of
either manhood or gallantry unless he was a " hunter." Their
recklessness caused them eventually to be joined by men
drawn from the coarser criminal classes, with the result that
their hunting was not infrequently accompanied by acts of
wanton violence. These crimes were met in 1722 by an Act of
extreme severity.
Although this lawless spirit originated and came to a head at
Bishops Waltham, in Hampshire, more than one gang of reck-
less poachers and smugglers, with blackened faces, styled
themselves "Waltham Blacks," and traversed the country,
especially the forest districts, robbing deer parks and fish
ponds, and demanding money. They would brook no opposi-
tion, and shot dead a young keeper of Windsor who merely
put his head out of a lodge window to remonstrate. Sir John
Cope, of Bramshill, in the north of Hampshire, threatened two
men whom he thought he recognised in daylight as belonging
to the gang with legal proceedings, and the next night over
£ve hundred of his young plantations were cut down. Windsor
suffered severely from these marauders. In the year of the
passing of the "Black Act " over forty of the gang were secured
in that district. A special assize was held at Reading, when
four of the worst offenders were executed and hung in chains
in different parts of the forest, and the others were transported.
During the disturbed period of the Civil War, and afterwards
82 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
during the Commonwealth, deer-hunting by unauthorised
persons became customary on Cranborne Chase, and was sub-
sequently indulged in by many of the gentlemen of the neigh-
bourhood as a kind of " brave diversion." In the earlier part
of the eighteenth century, not a few persons of good breeding
and birth thought it no disgrace to hunt or poach at night, to
drive the deer into nets, and to enter into fierce combats with
the keepers. Hutchins thus describes this "kind of knight-
errantry amusement of the most substantial gentlemen of the
neighbourhood " : —
" The manner of this amusement, as it was then called, was nearly
as follows : A company of hunters, from four to twenty in number,
assembled in the evening, dressed in cap, jack, and quarterstaff, and
with dog's and nets. Having set the watchword for the night, and
agreed whether to stand or run, in case they should meet the keepers,
they proceed to Cranborne Chase, set their nets at such places where
the deer are most likely to run, then let slip their dogs, well-used to
the sport, to drive the deer into the nets, a man standing at each
end to strangle the deer as soon as entangled. Thus they passed
such a portion of the night as their success induced them, sometimes
bringing off six or eight deer, good or bad, such as fell into the net,
but generally of the latter sort, which was a matter of little import-
ance to those gentlemen hunters who regarded the sport, not the
venison. Frequent desperate bloody battles took place ; and in-
stances have unfortunately happened where sometimes keepers, at
other times hunters, have been killed. "
A reproduction is given on the opposite page of an original
painting, executed in 1720, of a group of these hunters with
their bee-hive caps, wadded coats, quarterstaffs, and nets.
The person in the centre is Mr. Henry Good, of Bower Chalk,
described as a man " of rare endowments both of body and
mind." It appears as a frontispiece to that rare book Mr.
Chafin's Anecdotes of Cranborne Chase (1818), where the special
details of the deer-hunter's equipment are thus described :—
"The cap was formed with wreaths of straw tightly bound
together with split bramble-stalks, the workmanship much the same
as that of the common bee-hives. The jacks were made of the
strongest canvas, well quilted with wool to guard against the heavy
blows of the quarterstaff, weapons which were much used in those
days, and the management of them requiring great dexterity."
84 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Soon after the " gentlemen " who indulged in "this rude
Gothic amusement" of night poaching had had their portraits
taken in their protective suits, which somewhat resemble those
worn by American football players, this kind of sport fell into
abeyance among those of position, for the poor reason that it
was patronised by the lower orders. Hutchins shrewdly
remarks that when this change came, about 1730, its votaries
ceased to be called deer-hunters, and were known as deer-
stealers. So fierce became the affrays that the forester of the
West Walk was killed in 1738, and shortly afterwards the like
fate befell the forester or keeper of the Fernditch Walk.
There was a serious pitched battle on Chettle Common,
Cranborne Chase, on the night of December i6th, 1780,
between the keepers and deer-stealers, the latter headed by a
sergeant of dragoons, who were then quartered at Blandford.
One of the dragoon's hands was severed from the arm by a
hanger of a keeper, whilst one of the keepers was rendered
permanently lame by the blow of a swindgel. In another
affray in 1791 one of the deer-stealers was killed and ten were
taken prisoners, and eventually transported for life.
The only known relics of these terrible chase strifes are two
of the straw caps and an example of that deadly weapon, the
swindgel, secured by the keepers from the deer-stealers in 1791.
They belong to Mr. Castleman, of Chettle Lodge, and were
specially photographed for the Reliquary (N. S. i., 241), in
1887.
The two straw caps or helmets, shown on Plate xin., are
painted dark green to hinder their being noticeable at night-
fall. The lining is thickly stuffed with wool. The longer arm
of the swindgel is 14 in. long, whilst the shorter arm is only
6 in., but has a circumference in the widest part of 4! in. The
total weight is i Ib. 2 oz. ; it is made of a hard, close-grained
wood. The swivelled hinges are of iron, and there is a leathern
handle-loop to go round the wrist.
Towards the close of the eighteenth century increased atten-
tion was given to the importance of forests as yielding timber
for the maintenance of the Navy. Commissioners were ap-
pointed to inquire into the state and condition of the woods
and forests belonging to the Crown. Between 1787 and 1793
they issued seventeen reports. The first two reports, as well
LATER FOREST HISTORY 85
as the fourth, the eleventh, the twelfth, the sixteenth, and the
seventeenth, are of a general character. The third deals with
the Forest of Dean, the fifth with the New Forest, the sixth with
forests of Alice Holt and Woolmer, the seventh with Salcey, the
eighth with Whittlewood, the ninth with Rockingham, the tenth
with Wichwood, the thirteenth with Bere, the fourteenth with
Sherwood, and the fifteenth with Waltham in Essex.
A Descriptive List of the Deer Parks and Paddocks of 'England ',
by Mr. Joseph Whitaker, was published in 1892. The number
of red or fallow deer, or both, in each enclosure, with the
acreage, is set forth in each case, with other particulars of the
more interesting examples. They vary in size from 4,000
acres at Savernake to a single acre at Bagnall House. The
beautiful park of Savernake, with the open country adjoining,
presents the best picture of an old English forest. Bowood,
which used to be an important part of Clarendon forest, is
another good example of forest scenery. If the woods of fir
and pine were removed, a great part of the New Forest offers
much the same features that it did in days of old. For fine
oaks the parks of Windsor, Cornbury, and Kedleston are pre-
eminent, whilst Thoresby park, Notts, is not to be equalled
anywhere for the variety and beauty of its timber. Spetchley
park, Worcestershire, is fenced with old oak pales, fastened
with oaken pegs after the original fashion. An ancient stout
style of oak deer fence is also still maintained round Hardwick
park, Derbyshire.
No'fewer than fifty parks mentioned in Mr. Evelyn Shirley's
delightful Account of English Deer Parks have ceased to con-
tain deer since 1867, when that work was issued.
The red deer are still found in a wild state in Devon and
Somerset, on Exmoor forest and its confines. The growth of
popularity attached to the hunting during the last half-century
has materially added to their preservation and increase. There
«re also a few red deer on Martendale Fell, Westmoreland.
Fallow deer still run wild in the New Forest and Epping
forest, and a few stray deer are sometimes noticed in the
woodlands of old Rockingham forest. It is a disputed point
whether these last are a remnant of the old herds, or escapes
from neighbouring parks.
The roe deer, though few in number and decreasing, may
86 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
yet be found in parts of Cumberland, Durham, and Northum-
berland ; whilst in certain of the wooded combes on the Milton
side of the vale of Blackmore, Dorset, they roam freely about
under the protection of the landowners. They were introduced
at Milton about the beginning of the nineteenth century.
In 1884, six of the Milton roe deer were caught and trans-
ported to Epping forest, in an endeavour to stock that district.
A little later, Mr. E. N. Buxton obtained eight more roe deer
from the same district ; they have slightly increased, and are
supposed now to number about twenty-five.
A few of these Milton deer have of recent years made their
way into the New Forest ; they were first observed there about
1870, but they do not number more than a dozen.
CHAPTER IX
THE FORESTS OF NORTHUMBERLAND, CUMBERLAND,
WESTMORELAND, AND DURHAM
NORTHUMBERLAND
NEARLY in the centre of the county of Northumberland
stands the picturesque little town of Rothbury, "almost
startling, from the beauty of its situation." The parish,
which is over thirty miles in circuit, was once all forest land ;
by far the greater part of it is much as it was in the days of
mediaeval England, consisting chiefly of wild, uncultivated
moorland.
The maps still mark the tracts above and below the town
as North Forest and South Forest. Many a writer on North-
umberland, even some well-informed ones of recent times, have
tried to realise how different this district must have looked
when "clothed with trees and underwood." But, for the
most part, this never was and never could have been the case
with Rothbury forest of historic days. Nevertheless, the
actual valley of the Coquet was, beyond doubt, far more
closely wooded in early days than it is at the present time ;
indeed, etymologists tell us that the very meaning of Rothbury
is "the town in the clearing."
Some twelve miles north-east of Rothbury lies the celebrated
little town of Alnwick, on the Alne, which was also surrounded
by a tract of country under forest law in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. The rolls of an eyre held at Newcastle
in 1286, show that there were three bailiwicks in the forest
of Northumberland ; one to the south of Rothbury and
the Coquet, another to the north of Rothbury between the
Coquet and the Alne, and a third immediately to the north of
the Alne. There were four verderers to each bailiwick.
87
88 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
The forest of Northumberland is repeatedly mentioned in
the Patent and Close Rolls of Henry III., at times when there
were general directions as to the forests at large. Thus in 1222,
when orders were given to the sheriffs, verderers, and foresters
throughout England as to the woodfall after the great storm,
Daniel de Newcastle received particular instructions as warden
of the forest of Northumberland.
When forest perambulations were being undertaken in 1225,
the duty of surveying the Northumberland forest was assigned
to Roger de Morlay and Roger Bertram, with Nicholas de
Hudham as clerk. In January, 1229, the sheriff, foresters,
and regarders were instructed to make a regard before the end
of the octave of the ensuing Easter, preparatory to the holding
of an eyre by the justices.
In 1281 a scheme for the disafforesting of Northumberland
was drawn up. The inhabitants of the forest district were to
pay an annual rental of 40 marks to the Crown for this privi-
lege, in proportion to the value of their lands ; 23 marks were
to be paid by those north of the Coquet, and the remaining
17 marks by those to the south of the same river.
In February, 1286, William de Vesey, Thomas de Norman-
vill, and Richard de Crepping were nominated as justices to
hold an eyre of the forest of Northumberland, to cover the
period from the holding of the last eyre in the reign of
Henry III. up to the date of the disafforesting.
The barony of Alnwick was held during most of Edward I.'s
reign by that great palatinate bishop, Anthony Bek, of Dur-
ham. In 1299, a special commission was held to inquire into
the breaking of the bishop's parks and chase at Alnwick,
where his deer had been hunted and carried away, and arrows
drawn upon his parkers, some of whom were wounded. But
as the parks and chases of this district ceased to be under forest
law from 1281, their history must not be pursued any further.
Henry Algernon Percy, the sixth Earl of Northumberland,
died without issue in 1537. The family of his brother,
through the attainder of their father, who had been executed
for his support of the Pilgrimage of Grace, were incapable
of succession. The earldom, therefore, became extinct, and
the chief part of the estates passed to the Crown, and thus
continued for twenty years.
FOREST OF NORTHUMBERLAND
89
Although the forest district, with its parks and warrens, did
not come under forest law by this reversion to the Crown,
nevertheless a word or two are admissible as to its governance
under Henry VIII. A survey that was taken in August, 1539,
HUNTING COSTUME. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. (See pp. 66-7.)
of Rothbury and its members, gives Sir Cuthbert Ratcliffe as
master of the game in the forests, chases, parks, and warrens
of Alnwick, and John Heeson as bow-bearer, with many other
masters and keepers of different parks. Cuthbert Carnabie,
master of the game in Warkworth park, was also constable of
90 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Alnwick Castle, as well as master of the game. Among his
privileges, Carnabie was entitled to as many salmon taken in
the Coquet as would serve him for keeping his house ; but he
had to pay 6d. for each salmon, and zd. for each "gylse"
or young salmon.
A perambulation of Rothbury forest shows that the master
of game received £7 a year ; whilst each of the three keepers or
foresters received a id. a day, in addition to blownwood, and
firewood, together with "one stag in summer and one hind in
winter for the makyng of the houndes." The keepers of all the
Alnwick parks received ^3 6s. 8d. a year, together with two
horse-gates, a buck in summer and a doe in winter.
It may here, too, be mentioned that an account of the Earl
of Northumberland's parks and games in this county, taken
early in the reign of Henry VIII., shows that there were in
Holn Park 879 deer ; in Cawledge (or College) Park, 586 ; in
Warkworth Park, 150; and in Acklington Park, 144. All of
these were fallow deer, but outside the parks, in the unenclosed
parts of Rothbury forest, were 153 red deer. In his other
parks in Cumberland and Yorkshire, the earl had 3,659 head
of fallow and red deer. Holn Park, on the west side of the
castle with the Alne running through it, was at this time
enclosed within a stone wall, said to be twenty miles in com-
pass ; Cawledge Park, to the south of the castle, was six miles
in compass.
Queen Mary restored the barony and its estates, in 1557, to
Thomas Percy, reviving the earldom, and the old forest of
Northumberland passed again into a subject's hands.
CUMBERLAND
At the time of the Norman invasion, the great forest of
Inglewood stretched from Penrith, on the south confines of the
county, to Carlisle, about twenty miles to the north. It is
described in the Chronicle of Lanercost as having been "a
goodly great forest, full of woods, red deer and fallow, wild
swine, and all manner of wild beasts."
Reginald Lacy obtained a grant from King John in 1203
for himself and Ada, his wife, daughter and co-heir of Hugh
de Morvill, of the forestership of Cumberland. In the follow-
THE FOREST OF CUMBERLAND 91
ing year he paid the considerable sum of 900 marks, as well as
five palfreys, to have livery of the property of the said Ada,
and to enjoy the keepership of the forests of the county in as
ample a way as Hugh de Morvill had held it. Reginald died in
1214, and Ada, his widow, gave a fine of 500 marks for livery
of her inheritance including the forestership. The widow
married Thomas de Multon, who paid £100 fine and one
palfrey to the Crown, soon after the accession of Henry III.,
to hold the office of forestkeeper in right of his wife. Thomas
de Multon, who was frequently sheriff of Cumberland, died
in 1240, and is named as forest keeper in various documents,
such as that generally issued after the great storm of 1222.
In 1229 Thomas de Multon received orders to supply Roger
de Quincy with two stags out of the Cumberland Forest as a
gift from the king. Two years later Multon was instructed to
prohibit the foresters from entertaining or affording hospitality
to those passing through the county forest.
Several manors within the forest were granted, in 1242, to
the kings of Scotland in satisfaction of their claims on the
northern counties of England, but they were resumed at a later
period by Edward I.
At an eyre, held in the reign of Henry III., Robert, Bishop
of Carlisle, was fined the heavy sum of £6g 6s. for depreda-
tion of the herbage of Cumberland Forest ; but this sum was
forgiven to his executors in the next reign.
With the beginning of Edward I.'s reign, the term Forest of
Cumberland gave way, for the most part, to the title of Ingle-
wood Forest; but the latter title had a more restricted significa-
tion, as the older county forest included several manors be-
tween the river Eden and the parish of Alston.
In 1274 Edward I. ordered an inquest to be held whether or
no Alexander, King of Scotland, and his men of Penrith and
Salkeld ought to have, and have been accustomed to have,
common of pasture in any part of the park of Plumpton,
which was enclosed in the time of Henry III., and, if so,
within what bounds ; and also to make like inquiry as to the
King of Scotland and his men having any claim to housebote
and heybote in any part of Inglewood Forest. Plumpton Park
was disafforested in the time of Henry VIII. •
Richard le Escat, one of the Inglewood foresters, killed
92 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
William, son of Elias de Grenerigg, in the forest in 1280 ; but
he obtained a royal pardon, as it was proved that William was
caught in the act of venison trespass, and that he was slain on
refusal to be arrested.
An eyre was held in 1285. The roll show that the forest was
divided into three bailiwicks, with twelve regarders for each.
There were twelve verderers for the whole forest. One of
the more noteworthy presentments at this eyre, cited in full
by Mr. Turner in Forest Pleas, was the charge that Isabel de
Clifford, who held the park of Whinfell in Westmoreland, had
two deer-leaps which were nuisances to the forest, one of them
being only a league from Inglewood Forest, and the other
only a league and a half. The justices for this eyre were
William de Vesey, Thomas de Normanvill and Richard de
Crepping.
William de Vesey, whilst justice of the forest beyond Trent,
took to the king's use in 1289 a hundred bucks, which he
delivered to Peter de Chaumpvent, steward of the household ;
fifty of these bucks came from Inglewood Forest. He received
a formal quittance for taking them in September, 1290, when
his son, John de Vesey, succeeded him as justice of the
forest.
Attachment courts were held in this forest, as was customary,
every forty-second day. There is an Inglewood attachment
roll extant of the year 1293.
A commission was issued in 1298 to inquire, by the oath of
foresters and verderers of Inglewood, in the presence of
Robert de Clifford, justice of that forest, whether the abbot of
Holmcoltram had sufficient pasture without the forest launds
for his stud, draught oxen, and swine, or not. The abbot
asserted that he had chartered rights of common for these pur-
poses in all places in the forest between the rivers Caldew and
Alne. Certain of these launds had recently been enclosed, for
the king's profit, by Geoffrey de Nevill and William de Vesey,
heretofore justices of that forest.
Pardon was granted in January, 1300, to John, Bishop of
Carlisle, and his men for taking a buck in this forest. In the
same month, power was granted by the Crown to Robert de
Clifford, forest justice, and two others, to divide up the king's
wastes in the wood of Allerdale, within the forest bounds, into
THE FOREST OF CUMBERLAND 93
numbers of acres to be held by tenants at yearly rental to the
Exchequer ; also to sell wood, green or dry, by view of the
foresters and other officials.
Among the various details pertinent to this forest on the
Patent Rolls of Edward II., the following may be mentioned.
John de Harbela, king's yeoman, obtained a grant, in 1312, of
the bailiwick in the forest of Inglewood, which Thomas de
Multon held, and which on account of a forfeiture he had
incurred, was in the king's hands. Two years later Thomas
de Verdon was appointed forester in the place of Harbela. In
1315 William de Dacra was appointed steward of this forest
by the Crown during pleasure. In the same year a com-
mission was issued to inquire into the carrying away of certain
of the king's falcons from the eyrie in the forest of Inglewood.
Henry de Panetria, at the request of Queen Isabella, was
granted for life, in 1316, the bailiwick of the forestership of
" Gaytsheles," in this forest. Grant was made, in 1317, of
pasture for their beasts in Inglewood Forest to the nuns of
Ermynthwait, in consequence of the severe loss that had been
inflicted on them by the king's enemies. John de Crumbwell
was warden of Inglewood in 1318, when acquittance was
granted to Robert de Tymparon, an agister within the forest,
for .£4 IQS. ^\d. for pannage from the date of his being an
agister in the time of Edward I., which sum had been paid
into the hands of Robert de Barton, late keeper of the king's
victuals in the park of Carlisle. In the same year, John de
Rithre, king's yeoman, was appointed steward of the forest
during pleasure.
The Exchequer accounts of this reign give the expenses in-
curred by Robert, the squire, for a summer hunt for the king
in Inglewood Forest, which lasted for four days. His servant
was paid \2d. a day, whilst an allowance of \d. a day each was
made for ten greyhounds and for three bercelets, or hounds
that hunted by scent.
When the reign of Edward III. is reached, the record entries
relative to the forest of Inglewood, its records of Gaystall or
Gatesgill, and Penrith, and its launds of Plumpton, Hesket,
Braithwait, Ivetanfield, and Middlescough, etc., become so
frequent that a considerable and interesting volume on its
annals might readily be compiled. Here there is only space
94 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
for a few brief extracts from the less known and uncalendered
rolls.
An Exchequer Roll of 1335-6, when Richard de Nevill was
keeper, shows that the laund of Plumpton, of which Roger de
Wastedale was the agister, charged 6d. a head for horses, ^d.
for draught oxen, 3^. for cattle, and 2d. for stirks. Sheep
were only allowed on two or three of the launds, and were
charged at ^d. a score. The agistments of the year produced
£26 i$s. q.d. The letting of the lodges of the forest brought in
29-$-. 8d. The ward of Penrith commuted the fence month fines
by a payment of i6.r. 8d. from six townships, and the ward of
Gaystall by a payment of 23^. 8d. from fourteen townships.
The pannage money was but small, indicating a decided
paucity of woods ; only g^d. from Penrith ward, and 6.r. $^d.
from Gaystall ward. Among the attachments of Gaystall
were 6d. for a horse, 2d. for two stirks, and 1 2d. for pigs.
There is another very full agistment and attachment roll
of 1375-6, wherein there are various fines, from id. to i2d., for
vert offences.
The accounts of Richard, Earl of Salisbury, for this forest,
in the reign of Henry VI., are of a good deal of interest. The
returns of the frequent attachment courts are confined to vert
offences ; the fine for a cartload of wood was usually 2^., and for
a wagon /\d. The fence month fine money in Gaystall ward
was 2O.r., contributed by twelve townships, far the heaviest
share being 6s. 8^. from the city of Carlisle. The like fine for
Penrith ward amounted to 13^. 8d., of which Penrith it-
self paid 6s. 8d. The dead wood of Gaystall ward pro-
duced iu., and that of Penrith 2os. The small amount of
actual wood within this wide sweep of forest is again shown by
the lowness of the pannage fees, which only amounted to
6.r. o\d. in the two wards. References in forest accounts to
churches or chapels (save in the matter of tithes) are quite
exceptional ; but in these rolls certain rents of lands at
Grueythwaite (Greenthwaite) are assigned to a chapel there,
which had recently been rebuilt.
A survey of Inglewood Forest, taken on 8th August, 1539,
mentions Sir Henry Wharton as master of game, and William
Hoton, Esquire, as bow-bearer. The officers in the sub-forests
of Ashdale and Wastedalehead were Sir Thomas Wharton,
THE FOREST OF WESTMORELAND 95
master of game, Richard Vikars and Thomas Nycholson,
foresters of Ashdale, and William Fletcher and Nicholas
Hunter, foresters of Wastedalehead. The sub-forest of West-
wood had the same master of game, and Micah Avon bow-
bearer, with Richard Dykes and Thomas Wilson keepers.
The sub-forest of Nicholl had Sir William Musgrave as master
of game. The keepers of Wastedale had a hart in summer and
a hind in winter, equally divided between them.
An expense roll of this forest for the first year of Elizabeth is
chiefly occupied with the details of repairs done to the " court
houses " of Penrith, Sowerby, and Gaystall. Repairs were
also done to the leads, and the glass and iron of the windows
of Kidkirk chancel at a charge of £3 6s. Sd.
Charles II., on his marriage with Katharine of Braganza,
settled on her, as part of the royal dower, the forest of Ingle-
wood.
In 1696, the forest of Inglewood was granted by the Crown
to William Bentinck, first Earl of Portsmouth, as an appurten-
ance of the honor of Penrith.
In Jefferson's Cumberland, published in 1840, it is stated
that the forest or swainmote courts for the seigniory of Hesket
were still held annually on June nth in the open air, on the
great north road to Carlisle, the place being marked by a stone
table placed before a thorn called Court Thorn ; at this court a
variety of annual dues were paid to the lord of the forest.
On Wragmire Moss, in the same parish, a well-known
ancient oak, spoken of as the last tree of Inglewood Forest, fell
''from sheer old age " on June i3th, 1823.
WESTMORELAND
A considerable tract of wild land in this county was rendered
subject to the fierce rule of the early forest laws in the time of
Henry II. and John ; but all this was disafforested by the
Forest Charter, 1217, which only recognised as forests those
tracts of country which had been in that condition when
Henry II. came to the throne. In 1225, grave complaint was
lodged by the knights and proved men of Westmoreland that
certain magnates of the county were continuing to treat the
disafforested demesne as though still subject to forest fines
96 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
and penalties, to the great injury of the inhabitants. There-
upon letters patent was issued by the Crown sternly repro-
bating such action, addressed in the first place to William de
Lancaster, Baron of Kendal, with duplicates to Robert de
Vezpont, sheriff of Westmoreland, to Earl Warren for the
wood of Incelemor, and to Matilda de Lascy for the wood of
Pippin.
It was doubtless in consequence of this royal reminder
that John de Vezpont, when he succeeded his father three
years later, granted to the lords of the manor of Warcop,
Sandford, Burton, and Hilton, in this county, freedom from
foresters' puture, and from all things that might be demanded
of that nature.
DURHAM
There is no mention of any forest of the county of Durham
in the lists of royal forests temp. Henry III., and there was
certainly no district under forest laws throughout by far the
greater part of Durham. The forest of Teesdale is, however,
occasionally named in the latter part of the fifteenth and in the
first half of the sixteenth century. The number of fallow and
red deer in this forest in 1538-9 has already been cited.
In the western angle of the county, where it is separated
from Yorkshire on the south by the river Tees, and where it
reaches out to both Cumberland and Westmoreland, Durham
was in contiguity with forest districts of other counties, and
forest laws probably there prevailed over a small area. An
extensive township of the old widespread parish of Middleton-
in-Teesdale still bears the reduplicated name of Forest-and-
Frith ; it begins 4! miles north-west from Middleton, and ends
on the borders of Westmoreland, near the sources of the Tees.
At the furthest extremity of the wild district of Forest-and-
Frith is Harwood, the very name denoting a tract of ancient
woodland. Various of the smaller place-names and field names
have reference to deer, and a few to the former presence of wolf
and boar.
The large parish of Stanhope, immediately to the north of
Middleton, has a western division termed Forest Quarter ex-
tending to the borders of Cumberland, just above Harwood,
and including Weardale. Leland, writing in the time of
THE FOREST OF DURHAM
97
Henry VIII., said: " There resorte many rede dere, stragelers,
to the mountaines of Weredale." The forest of Weardale
was held by the Bishops of Durham ; the
Boldon Book, of the twelfth century, affords
many interesting particulars as to the hunt-
ing regulations of the district, but as it was
not royal forest it would be foreign to our
purpose to cite them.
Whatever small portion of Durham may
at some time have been under forest law
could only have attained that position
through the overlap of some forest at its
western extremity, whose administration
pertained to another county.
In the crypt of Durham Cathedral is an
unusually fine memorial slab of the latter
half of the thirteenth century, which must
have marked the interment of some chief
forester or warden of a northern forest.
On the sinister side of the cross is a
sheathed sword with the sword belt twisted
round it. On the dexter is a long bow-
string, with the arrow fitted in the notch
and the head showing on the further side
of the sword. On the bow rests what
appears to be the distinctive cap of the
master of the forest, whilst in the angle
above, between the bow and the string, is
a small paddle-shaped implement, which
may possibly indicate water or fishing
rights.
CHIEF FORESTER S SLAB
DURHAM CRYPT
CHAPTER X
THE FORESTS OF LANCASHIRE
THE forests of Lancashire, which were at one time very
considerable, were chiefly situated in the high region on
the east side of the county. In their earlier history they
may be divided into two portions, namely, those in the ancient
house of Lancaster, which were subject soon after the Con-
quest to Roger de Poictou ; and those in the great fee of
Clitheroe, subject at the same time to the family of Lacy.
After the marriage of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, with Alice
de Lacy in 1310, all the forests of the county came under the
one head of Foresta de Lancaster, and pertained to the earldom,
and afterwards to the Duchy of Lancaster. But quite a century
before this date all the various forests were frequently described
under the common denominator of the county town. The more
important forests were within the hundred of Lonsdale ; those
of Wyersdale, Quernmoor, Bleasdale, Myerscough, and Ful-
wood were all within the very extensive ancient parish of
Lancaster, though the last three were in the hundred jurisdic-
tion of Amounderness. In the hundred of Blackburn was the
great forest of Blackburnshire, of which Rossendale, Bowland,
Pendle, and Trawden were the subdivisions. In the hundred
of West Derby was the forest of that name, often termed
Derbyshire, with the parks of Croxteth and Toxteth.
In Harland's edition of Baines' Lancashire (1868-70) there is
a certain amount of scattered, meagre information pertaining
to these very considerable tracts of the county ; but the history
of the forests of Lancashire remains yet to be written. The
material available would readily make an interesting work of
one or two volumes. All that is here attempted is to give a
few scattered facts which have not for the most part hitherto
appeared in print.
98
THE FORESTS OF LANCASHIRE 99
In the first year of King John, Benedict Gernet held the
serjeanty of the forest of the whole county, for which he
rendered an annual payment of £26 13$. <\d. In the same
year (1200) the king granted leave by charter to the knights
and freeholders dwelling in his forest of the honor of Lan-
caster to use their own woods as they willed, declaring them
exempt from the regard of the forest. For these privileges the
knights and freeholders paid into the Exchequer, in the follow-
ing year, the considerable sum of .£283 17^. In 1206, John
conferred the keepership of the Lancaster forests on Gilbert
Fitz-Reinfred, one of his favourite barons.
John granted to the house of the lepers of St. Leonard's,
Lancaster, considerable privileges in the forest of Lonsdale,
where they might graze their beasts, gather dead wood'for fuel,
and have timber sufficient for the repairs of their dwellings.
Some time before 1220, Henry III. appointed Roger Gernet,
forester-of-fee of Lonsdale, to the general keepership ; in that
year the lepers petitioned the king for relief from the exactions
of Gernet, who claimed an ox from them in recompense for
their winter agistment, and a cow for the summer pasturing ;
nor would he allow them to take wood for fuel or house repairs.
A writ was at once directed to the sheriff of Lancaster
instructing him to stay the exactions of Roger Gernet, and
a confirmation charter was sent to the lepers, allowing all
their privileges without any payment in money or kind. From
this and from a subsequent slightly amended confirmation we
learn that the lepers were originally indebted to Henry II. for
their forest favours, and that John merely ratified his father's
grant. Nine years later the pasturage rights of the lepers
were restricted to a certain defined area of the forest. In 1227
Roger Gernet was confirmed in the custody of Lancaster
Forest.
A perambulation of the Lancashire forests was undertaken
in 1228, on the king's precept, by William Blundel, Thomas
de Bethune, and ten other knights, who said that the whole
forests of Lancaster ought, according to the Forest Charter, to
be disafforested, save Quernmore, Conet, Bleasdale, Fulwood,
Toxteth, Derby, and Burtonwood. In the following year a
confirmation of John's charter to the knights and freeholders of
Lancaster was granted by Henry III. for the enjoyment of the
ioo THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
neighbouring woods under certain restrictions. This was
probably done to prevent the forests of Wyersdale and Myers-
cough, adjoining the county town, being disafforested, as was
evidently the intention of the inquest of 1228, wherein they
are not named as exceptions to the general disafforesting.
Wyersdale forest, which took its name from the river, con-
tained about 20,000 acres ; Quernmore, to the north of it,
about 7,000 acres ; Myerscough, about 2,200 acres, skirted the
great north road from Preston to Lancaster ; whilst Bleasdale
was coextensive with the township of that name.
By charter of 3Oth June, 1267, Henry III. granted to his
son Edmund the honor and castle of Lancaster, together with
the vaccaries and forests of Wyersdale and Lonsdale, etc. But
they were to be considered forests, and not chases of private
ownership ; and hence were entitled to be ruled by forest pleas
held by the king's justices.
Long notice was given of the rarely held eyre of justices for
forest pleas, proposed to be held for the county of Lancaster at
Easter, 1287. The first summons was issued for it in October,
1286, when it was stated that the justices would be William
de Vesey, Thomas de Normanvill, and Richard de Crepping.
But this arrangement was subsequently cancelled. On 8th
February the sheriff was instructed to order a preliminary
regard of the forest to be taken, and ten days later he was
ordered to issue summonses for an eyre to be held a month
after Easter before Robert Brabazon and William Wyther.
At these pleas forty-eight cases of venison trespass were pre-
sented. In at least one case, that of Nicholas de Lee, the
chartered privileges of King John were pleaded in defence of
hunting in the king's forest.
There are various records extant of attachment courts of the
forests of Quernmore and Wyersdale, which were under joint
jurisdiction, temp. Edward I. The offences were chiefly venison
trespass. The courts were always held on a Thursday, and
presided over by the two verderers, John le Gentil and John
de Caton. There are records of eight courts held in 1299, nine
in 1300, and four in 1301.
The venison trespasses for this and other years show that
there were both fallow and red deer in the Lancaster forests of
this date, though the latter were the more numerous, and the
THE FORESTS OF LANCASHIRE 101
former more especially found in parks. The foresters reported
that Thomas, son of Adam de Berewyk, clerk, wounded at
night a certain buck within the township of Lancaster, and
followed it up with bow and arrows, but the deer escaped and
recovered. Immediately after the deed, Thomas entered into
the service of certain magnates outside the county of Lan-
caster. The foresters were ordered to try and find and attach
him.
On Thursday, after the feast of St. Katherine, 1293, a certain
buck was found strangled in the forest of Claughton. An
inquest was held, and the jury found that a certain white dog
— whose they knew not — followed the said buck from Quern -
more to Langlandebroke ; that one Thomas de Harrey, coming
that way, struck the buck on the back and broke its back ; that
Thomas immediately after fled, and they were not able to find
him. The flesh and horns of the buck were given, in accord-
ance with the Forest Charter, to the lepers of Lancaster.
At a court held at Easter, 1299, before the verderer, Ingel-
ram de Gynet, Roger de Croft, and many others of the
Ingelram family, were presented for hunting with greyhounds
in Wyersdale ; and Ralph de Bray for killing a doe with
arrows and carrying it off. The offenders were committed, to
use modern parlance, to the next forest pleas, but admitted to
bail. At Trinity, in the same year, the attachment court was
attended by three foresters and twenty-four sub-foresters ; four
of the sub-foresters held their office by right of service, and are
entered as defeodo.
At the court of attachment held on Thursday after the
festival of St. Barnabas, Harry, the parker of Quernmore,
swore that the Sunday after the feast of St. Cecilia he was stand-
ing in the park and saw through the park pales Richard de
Thirnum and Richard Cokker kill a doe and carry it off. He
followed them, and shot arrows at them, so that they fled, leaving
the venison, which was carried to Lancaster Castle. At a
later court in the same year it was presented that the foresters
found two men armed with bows and arrows in the forest
of Quernmore, and two shepherds with their staffs with them,
and that all four were taken prisoners to Lancaster.
In the next few years there were various presentments for
taking harts and hinds. In 1306 several offenders came by
102 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
night with greyhounds into the park of Quernmore, but being
perceived by the foresters they fled, leaving behind them five
greyhounds. These hounds were caught by the foresters, who
took them to Lancaster castle.
Pleas of the forest were held at Lancaster on Monday, after
the feast of St. Peter, 1334, before William le Blount and
Henry de Hamburg, justices of the forest, assigns of Henry,
Earl of Lancaster.
The names of the verderers are first entered on the rolls ;
the two for " Derbyshire" (i.e. West Derby) were Henry de
Atherton de Ayntre and John de Gredleye, but their term of
office had apparently expired, for they were removed, and
Richard de Alvandeley and Richard de Eltonheved were
sworn to that office in their stead.
Two new verderers were also sworn for the forest or hundred
of Amounderness, whilst in the hundred of Lonsdale one of
the two old verderers was removed and replaced by a new
appointment.
The names of fifteen foresters of Amounderness and Lonsdale
are entered on the roll, but only three appeared, for the re-
mainder had died since the last eyre of the justices, and there
was no one to answer for them. The three who came said that
they appeared for themselves and the other foresters, and that
they had no rolls nor indictments to present, for the verderers
and their heirs kept such rolls in their own possession, as they
were prepared to prove on the oath of their officials.
The prior of St. Mary's, Lancaster, claimed two cartloads
of dead wood for fuel out of the Lancashire forests, save in
Wyersdale, on any day he liked in the year, and free ingress
and egress in the forest for a cart and two horses, or with two
carts and four horses to seek for wood, according to charter of
Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, 1260. The prior also claimed tithe
of hunting and pannage.
The burgesses of Lancaster also made their claim for fuel
and building wood under a charter by Edmund ; and the
burgesses of Preston made like claims with regard to Fulwood
forest. The various claims of the abbot of Furness were
enforced by the production of charters of John, Henry III.,
and Earl Edmund, which were duly enrolled.
The tenants of the town of Broughton in Amounderness
PLATE XIV
DEER STALKING
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY)
THE FORESTS OF LANCASHIRE 103
claimed to have, from time immemorial, common pasture in the
forest of Fulwood for all kinds of animals save goats through-
out the year, except for six weeks during the acorn season
(pessone), and for the four weeks of the fence or close month,
by payment of icxr. at Michaelmas to the honor of Lancaster.
Eventually it was agreed that the tenants of Broughton should
have common pasture for their animals in Fulwood forest,
save for sheep and goats, and for pigs, except in the fence
month and in the six weeks of acorns. The considerable sum
of ,£14 6.T. Sd. was claimed as due to the lord for trespasses
with animals in Fulwood forest by the men of Broughton up
to the following Michaelmas ; but this was remitted. Hence-
forth IO.T. was to be paid by them at Michaelmas.
The foresters for the hundred of Derby enrolled at the
last eyre numbered twelve, but the first nine were dead,
and there was no one to represent them. The last three names
were the survivors. They appeared, but said, like those of
Amounderness and Lonsdale, that they had no rolls to produce,
as they were always delivered to the verderers.
It was upwards of thirty years since the last forest pleas had
been heard, and the justices were only able to obtain two of the
verderers' rolls for the intervening period, several having died
and left neither heirs not executors.
The successive keepers or master foresters of West Derby,
since the last eyre, were also called upon to lay their rolls
before the justices. But of these documents they obtained
very few.
Ralph de Monneysilver had been keeper for five years, and
died, leaving no heirs nor executors nor lands in the county.
Thomas Banastre was keeper for seven years. On his
death, though he had lands in the county, no one came to
restore the rolls ; but eventually Adam Banastre, his relative
and heir, appeared, and made fine for the rolls.
Richard de Hoghton was keeper for three years. On his
death his son Richard eventually delivered the rolls.
Thomas Tanner was keeper for a year. On his death,
though he had land in the county, no one restored the rolls,
and distraint was ordered to be made.
Simon de Baldlyston was keeper for six years ; he died in
1325, but no one came with the rolls.
104 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
William Gentil, who survived, was next keeper ; he restored
the rolls.
Ralph de Bikerstach was keeper for four years. On his
death no one restored the rolls, and distraint was made on his
lands.
Edmund de Neville, who survived, had been keeper for
three years. His rolls were burnt by the Scots and enemies
of the king ; and he was ready to make fine for them.
At this iter there were three separate juries sworn for Lons-
dale, Amounderness, and West Derby, numbering respectively
16, 15, and 12.
The venison presentments of the Lancashire forests were
numerous. Thomas de Halghton was charged with hunting
in the park of Quernmore at Ascensiontide with two grey-
hounds, one white and one red, and taking two bucks.
Another charge specified the colour of the greyhounds, one
white, and the other red, with a black muzzle (cum nigro
mussell).
The accounts of Henry de Hoghton, master forester of
Blackburnshire, for 1423, are extant. They show under
Penhull (Pendle) that no business was transacted that year
at the woodmote, held at Clitheroe ; that the court perquisites
from the woodmotes held at Ightenhill (otherwise Bromley)
amounted to 12s. 2d. ; that turf, stone and herbage were farmed
at a rental of 26s. 8d. ; and that 14^. lod. was received for
escape of beasts. Under Rossendale, 7^. yd. was received in
woodmote perquisites held at Accrington, and $s. id. for per-
quisites of halmotes held at the same place. The woodmotes
for Trowden were held at Colne, and other woodmotes were
held at Totyngton. The total receipts of the master forester
were £7 is. nd. The expenses, which were chiefly foresters'
wages, amounted to £6 2s. 2d., leaving a balance for the Crown
of 19.$-. gd.
In the same year, the collectors of Blackburnshire accounted
for the receipt of £130 15-$-. io\d. from farm rents, herbage, etc.,
in Pendle; £14 12^. 2d. from Rossendale; ,£23 13$. $d. from
Trowden ; £18 $s. 4^. from Totyngton ; and £7 i2s. from
Hodleston. The total receipts amounted to £263 i6s. *j\d.
Henry de Hoghton made separate returns as master forester
of Bowland, entered under Harrop, Daxsholt, and Chipping
THE FORESTS OF LANCASHIRE 105
wards, in each of which woodmotes were held. The receipts
were £65 iqs. 4^. The heaviest charge under wages was
£6 13-s1. 4^. to the steward of the master forester. The parker
of Laythegryme received 6s. 8d. for cutting deer-browse in the
winter, which is said to have been necessary that season. The
expenses of repairing the pales of the forest and fencing the
bounds amounted to £5 19.9. lod.
Sir John Stanley, father of Thomas, first Lord Stanley, was
appointed chief steward of Blackburnshire in 1424. He was
also made master forester of Blackburnshire and Salfordshire.
His accounts for the latter office for 1434-5 are extant, but are
of a very simple description ; they included 2id. perquisites of
the woodmotes held at Colne.
The rolls of Quernmore and Wyersdale are the only ones
that we have found which make mention of a court held in
a chapel. In 1477 two swainmotes for the Wharmore division
were held in the chapel of Wyersdale, and another in the
following year on the feast of St. Wilfrid.
In 1501 the Crown issued a series of warrants to the Earl of
Derby and others, directing that " putre money" or "forester
fee " be paid by the tenants to the foresters and keepers of the
forests of Penhull, Rossingdale, Acrington, and Trowden, in
Lancashire, according to the old custom and use, as set forth
in the account books of the duchy. It was stated that the old
records also showed that the foresters had committed "divers
displeasures and annoyances against the tenants, theire wyfes
and servants in sundrywise by theire coming to theire houses for
theire meate and drink," and that on the tenants' complaint the
duchy had agreed that the tenants should pay yearly £12 13^. ^d.
towards the foresters' wage, in recompense for the meat and
drink which was no longer to be claimed. This composition
was paid yearly until 1461, when for certain special causes
this payment was put in respite for a certain season. The sum
of £119 6s. 8d. had been thus respited. Stringent orders were
issued for the future payment of this fee by the tenants.
A like warrant was issued with regard to the foresters of
Holland, in Yorkshire, in which case the fee had not been paid
since 1484, and the sum respited amounted to £357 14^. 2d.
Rossendale, the largest of the four great divisions of the
forest of Blackburnshire, with an area of upwards of thirty
106 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
square miles, was disafforested, on the petition of the inhabi-
tants, about the beginning of the sixteenth century. A decree
of the duchy for the year 1550, whereby the rights of a parish
church were conferred upon the chapel of Rossendale, refers
to the bill of supplication for the disafforesting as having been
performed forty-four years previously, when the Crown came
to the conclusion that the land would be used for good purpose
if the deer were removed. The deer were accordingly killed,
and the land let out to the inhabitants. The decree of 1550
states that whereas before the disafforesting there were only
about twenty persons resident in the forest, the population then
numbered about one thousand of all ages.
Although there was considerable disafforesting in the county
as early as the end of Henry VII. 's reign in Blackburnshire,
the Crown deer were preserved with some strictness in other
parts of the county palatine long after the Restoration.
William III., in 1697, issued his warrant, countersigned by
the Earl of Stamford, as chancellor of the duchy, to the
master foresters, bow-bearers, or keepers of the forests, chases,
and parks of Lancashire, complaining of great destruction of
deer, and ordering that precise accounts were to be returned
yearly of the number of deer killed, and on what authority, as
well as of the stock remaining, etc.
CHAPTER XI
THE FORESTS OF YORKSHIRE— PICKERING
AND GALTRES
PICKERING
THIS forest district was known in early times as Pickering
Lythe or Liberty, for which the term Pickering Vale
seems to have been almost an equivalent at the beginning
of the fourteenth century. But Pickering Vale possibly only
included the cultivated or pasturage portions, and not the
wastes of the actual deer forest. The antiquity of the wood-
land and stretches of the forest is clear, for the silva of Domes-
day was sixteen miles long and four broad, and was, perhaps,
co-terminous with the whole soke.
The constable of the castle of Pickering was always also the
keeper of the forest and the steward of the manor. The forest
had a great repute for its wild boars about the beginning of the
thirteenth century. In 1214 Peter Fitzherbert, who was con-
stable of the castle, received orders from King John to render
assistance to master Edward, the royal huntsman, who was
coming with his hounds to kill wild boars in Pickering Forest,
and to see that the meat was well salted and in safe custody.
Later in the same year the king warned the constable of the
coming of Wyott, another of his huntsmen, with his men and the
royal hounds for a like purpose. The boars were to be sought
.in a certain part of the forest where the king was wont to hunt
them, and Peter was again to see that the meat was well salted,
and the heads soaked in wine. The boar's head was one of the
oldest standard dishes for an English Christmas, and as this
order was given in November, the wine-soaked Pickering
boars' heads probably graced the Christmas board at Worcester,
where John kept that feast in the year 1214.
107
io8 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Henry III., in July, 1225, sent letters to the sheriff of York-
shire and the constable of Scarborough to inform them that he
was sending two of his huntsmen, Master Guy and John the
Fool (le Fol), with hounds to take red deer in Pickering
forest. The sheriff was ordered to pay four marks, two for
the expenses, and two for salt for preparing the venison. In
September the sheriff received further instructions to forward
to London, with all speed, in good carts, the venison taken by
Guy and John in Pickering forest, there to be delivered to
the safe custody of Odo, the goldsmith of Westminster, till
the king had need of it.
Henry also shared his father's love for the boar flesh of
Pickering. In 1227 the king, when tarrying at Stamford, sent
Guy and John "Stultus" to take twenty hinds and twelve
wild pigs in his forest of Pickering, for the king's own use.
In 1231, when the king was at Wallingford, he dispatched his
huntsmen to the same forest to bring back the large number of
thirty wild pigs and fifty hinds ; there can be no doubt that in
each of these cases the meat was to be salted.
The first forest eyre for Pickering of which there is any
record, and that only a brief entry in the great Coucher Book
of the duchy, was held in 1280. Edward granted his brother
Edmund the right of having justices of the forest whenever the
king appointed such for his own forests, and also granted him
the fines and ransoms that might accrue from the holding of
the eyre.
Edward II. was at Pickering castle from 8th August to
22nd of the same month, in 1323. Whilst tarrying there, he
ordered John de Kilvington, the keeper, to permit William,
the hermit of Dal by, to have pasture in the forest for three
cows, with their issue, for three years ; William had previously
obtained the royal permit for the pasturing of two cows for his
lifetime, and the present grant provided that he should, in
addition, have pasturage for a third cow so long as he remained
a hermit. But the king had graver matters to attend to whilst
at Pickering. An inquisition was held by the oath of the
foresters, verderers, regarders, and other forest ministers, in
addition to other lawful men, whereby it was proved that over
two score persons, in addition to many unknown, had com-
mitted venison trespasses in the forest since the time that it
PLATE XV
FOREST HERMIT
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY)
THE FOREST OF PICKERING 109
came into the king's hands through the forfeiture of the Earl
of Lancaster. Thomas of Lancaster had been executed at
Pontefract after the battle of Boroughbridge, in April, 1322,
so that all these offences had been committed in about a twelve-
month. The unsettled condition of the country, and particu-
larly of the Scarborough and Whitby districts, where the earl
had numerous friends and allies, had doubtless led many to think
that the forest laws could be then infringed with impunity.
Among the offenders were several of position, such as Sir
John de Fauconburg and Sir Robert Caponn, who led a large
company on 2Qth June, with eight greyhounds and bows and
arrows, and there took a hart and hind, and carried the venison
away to Skelton castle. At Martinmas, Sir Robert Caponn
made another entry into the same part of the forest with nine
men, and carried off three deer ; and on a third occasion, a few
days later, he came with seventeen unknown men, " for the
purpose of doing evil, but they took nothing." A minor
offender was convicted of entering Blandsby park and giving
the parker izd. and a silk purse to say nothing about it.
The king instructed the sheriff to arrest all these transgressors,
and to deliver them to John de Kilvington to be kept in prison
in Pickering castle until further orders.
The forest did not in any way suffer from the northern in-
vasion of 1322, as it was saved by a war indemnity. For when
the Scots that year made a bold foray into England, under
Robert Bruce, and pillaged among other places the abbey of
Rievaulx, which closely adjoined the liberty of Pickering,
John Topcliffe, the rector of Seamer, and other leading men
of the district, with the assent of the whole community, pur-
chased the immunity of the vale and forest of Pickering from
the river Seven on the west to the sea on the east. The
covenant to effect this was made with Robert Bruce on I3th
October, 1322, through the Earl of Moray, for 300 marks to be
paid at Berwick. Nicholas Haldane, William Hastings, and
John Manneser, at the request of the whole community, gave
themselves up to Robert Bruce at Rievaulx on i7th October,
to sojourn as hostages in Scotland until the money was paid.
Afterwards the men of the community, although the Scots had
kept to their bargain, refused payment, and the three Pickering
hostages were still in prison in Scotland in July, 1325.
no THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
During Edward II. 's sojourn at Pickering in 1322 he gave
icw. to John, son of Ibote, of Pickering, for following him
the whole day when he hunted the hart in Pickering chase,
and also the roe deer.
The case of Sir John Fauconburg's poaching came up again
in the reign of Edward III. A close letter to the treasurer
and barons of the Exchequer, of September, 1327, sets forth :
That Sir John had shown the king, by petition before him and
his council, that Hugh le Despencer, the younger, had lately
caused Sir John to be indicted at Pickering, in Edward II.'s
presence, for taking a hart and a hind, and caused him to be
kept in prison until he had paid 100 marks fine, of which sum
he paid 10 marks ; that he prayed the king to be released from
the remainder of the fine as he was indicted contrary to the
law of the realm and of the forest ; that the alleged trespass
was made when Pickering forest was in the king's hands by
reason of the quarrel with Thomas of Lancaster, and it was
ordained in the late Parliament that the king was not to have
the issue of lands of those who were of the said quarrel ; and
further, that Sir John was indicted before another than the
keeper of the forest, contrary to the law and assize of the
forest. This last ingenious plea, namely, that Edward II.
had presided at the Pickering court in person, instead of John
de Kilvington, prevailed, and the barons were ordered, if
they found that Sir John had been indicted before another
than the keeper, to remit the arrears of the 100 marks.
Pleas of the forest were held at Pickering on 6th October,
1334, before Richard de Willoughby, Robert de Hungerford,
and John de Hanbury, justices in eyre. The foresters-of-fee
of the West ward were Sir William de Percy, who was pre-
sent, and a lady forester, Petronilla de Kynthorp, who was
represented by Edmund de Hastings as her deputy. The
foresters-of-fee of the East ward, were Roger de Leicester,
Hugh de Yeland, and William le Parker. All these had
several sub-foresters under them. Sir Ralph de Hastings, the
keeper of the whole forest, had seven foresters immediately
under his control. Four verderers, thirteen regarders, and
four agisters (two for each ward) were also present.
No pleas had been held since 1280, and the verderers, past
and present, or their heirs, were bound to produce the rolls,
THE FOREST OF PICKERING in
with vert and venison presentments, of their term of office.
Alexander, the son and heir of Bernard de Bergh, deceased,
appeared and handed in his father's rolls, and the same
happened with the sons of two other deceased verderers. In
two other cases the sons put in no appearance, and the sheriff
was ordered to seize the lands to compel attendances ; the sons
and heirs appeared before the court broke up, and were fined
40^. and five marks respectively. Two late verderers who were
living appeared and produced their rolls. William Ward,
late verderer, failed to appear, and writ was directed to sheriff;
afterwards he appeared, and was fined half a mark for
non-appearance the first day, and £5 for non-production of
of his rolls, which he said had been stolen from him, and he
knew not where they were. The successors of two other late
verderers (deceased) were fined ^3 for non-production of their
predecessors' rolls.
It was reported that Roger Mansergh, late forester-of-fee
of the West ward, was dead, and that Petronilla, his daughter
and heiress, came to perform the duties of her office and make
her claim ; another forester-of-fee of the East ward, Roger
Bygod, late Earl of Norfolk, was dead, so that the same had
remained in the king's hands, and the constables of the castle,
at their own risk, had appointed at pleasure Hugh de Yeland
in his stead.
The rolls of those who had been agisters since the last eyre
were also put in, in two cases by the sons and heirs of those
who were deceased.
The constables of the castle, who were also wardens of the
forest, were called upon to present their rolls and the muni-
ments of the forest, since the last eyre held fifty-four years
ago — they were Richard Skelton, William Levere, and Adam
Skelton, all dead, the order of the court in each case being,
"Let his successor appear and answer." Then came John
^Dalton, a late constable, who produced his rolls. He was
followed by John Kilvington, who said that during all the
time he was constable, he was appointed, by commission from
Edward II., warden of the honor, castle, and forest of Picker-
ing, which was then for certain reasons in the king's hands,
and that as he had to render his account to the Exchequer all his
rolls and other forest documents were in the king's treasury,
ii2 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
so that he could not produce them, and he referred the justices
to them. The late constable's statement was then proved
on oath by forest ministers, and in order to save time the
justices decided not to send to Westminster to inspect the
returns and accounts, and contented themselves with fining
John the nominal sum of half a mark for non-production.
Thomas Ugretred and Simon Simeon, both short-lived con-
stables, did not appear or send any deputies or rolls, and
writs were issued in each case. Sir Ralph Hastings, the then
holder of the office for life, by appointment of Henry, Earl of
Lancaster, made due appearance, and produced his documents.
With regard to the list of essoines before the justices, the
majority of them were proved to be dead, and therefore no
further proceedings could be taken in their case or in that of
their bail.
The list of indictments by the foresters and verderers opens
with a case of venison trespass on an exceptionally large scale.
On 23rd March, 1334, there were gathered together at " Black-
hodbrundes " (probably Blakey Moor) in the forest, a great
concourse of people with greyhounds and bows and arrows;
among them were several of considerable position, such as
Nicholas Meynell (mentioned first) of Whorley Castle, Peter de
Manley, the younger, heir to Mulgrave, John and William de
Percy of Kildale, whilst other names of distinction, such as
Wyvill and Colville, occur among the forty-two who were
recognised.
The sport probably assumed the form of a great drive, for
forty-three of the red deer (another account says sixty-three)
were actually killed. By way, apparently, of showing their
contempt for the foresters of the Earl of Lancaster, the sports-
men, before they left the forest, cut off nine of the heads and
fixed them on stakes in the moor. Again, on 26th May of the
same year, Nicholas Meynell, with Peter de Manley, and some
others engaged in the former fray, but in a much smaller
company, entered the forests with bows, arrows, and grey-
hounds ; on this occasion, however, they had only taken one
hind when the foresters came upon them, rescued the venison,
and carried it off to Pickering castle. The special imperti-
nence of this game trespass was that Edward III. had only
arrived at Pickering castle on a visit to the Earl of Lancaster
THE FOREST OF PICKERING 113
on the previous day. The king tarried there till 3oth
May, and the eyre that was held a few months later was
probably brought about as the result of this wholesale poach-
ing by men of position.
None of the transgressors put in an appearance before the
justices, and a writ was directed to the sheriff to compel their
attendance. Eventually certain of them appeared, were con-
victed, imprisoned in the castle, and ransomed on finding
pledges and paying fines — Nicholas Meynell £13 6^. 8d. , Peter
de Manley and William Wyvill £10 each, Robert Colville £6,
Robert Staynton and two more £i each, whilst twenty others
were fined in sums varying from 13$. 4^. to 5^. Three more
appeared later before the justices at Hackness, and were im-
prisoned and ransomed ; the rest did not appear, and as the
sheriff failed to find them, and they had no goods in his baili-
wick, they were outlawed.
Sir Ralph Hastings, the then constable and keeper, was
himself charged with venison trespass in 1327, but he produced
a pardon from the Earl of Lancaster, dated I3th August, 1334.
Another trespasser who produced a pardon was Edmund
Hastings, who, with certain of his household, hunted a hare
by night on Midsummer Eve, 1316, and carried it home to
Roxby. Edmund appeared and produced a pardon signed by
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, soon after the offence, as well as
from his nephew Henry, the present earl.
A considerable proportion of the venison trespassers were
men of good family, such as Moryns, Acclams, and Boyntons,
in addition to those already named.
Here, as elsewhere, a certain number of the secular clergy
were found to be culprits. Walter Wirksall, chaplain of
Westerdale, was convicted of twice joining a poaching party
in 1328, and was fined £1 6s. 8d. Robert Hampton, rector of
Middleton, kept four greyhounds, and often hunted hares ; as
he did not put in an appearance and could not be found, the
rector was outlawed. John, the chaplain of Hackness, in 1312,
and again in 1314, knowingly received unlawfully hunted
venison ; on his conviction he was fined £i 6.r. 3d. During
the time of the sitting of the eyre, John Shepherd, parson of
Levisham, was caught by Edmund Hastings, forester-in-fee,
in the act of killing a hart with bow and arrow in Haughdale ;
1 14 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
he was taken to the castle and there imprisoned. On being
taken before the justices, he and his companion got off with
the light fine of 13^. ^d. each. On loth July, 1311, a servant
lad of William Nafferton, vicar of Scalby, and two other men,
carried a hind, which one of them had killed, to the vicarage,
but without the vicar's knowledge ; there they skinned it, and
Dionysia, the vicar's maid, was an accessory, for she had part
of the venison ; part she sent as a gift to Emma Pinchon,
laundress of Newby, and the rest she sent out to the fields to
the vicar's ploughmen for their dinner. One of those who
carried the venison to the house was fined 6s. 8^., and the
rest were outlawed. Outlawry was the usual penalty for these
venison trespassers where the offender was poor and could not
readily be found. It is highly probable that not a few of such
outlaws eventually returned to their parishes or homes in the
lighter cases.
Many of the delinquents of the earlier years since the last
eyre were doubtless dead, and where that was known to be the
case the information was struck off. But one case brought
before the justices in 1334 went back as far as 1289. In that
instance two men of Farndale, who killed two hinds in Parnell-
dale on ist July, 1289, were fined, the one 26s. 8d. and the
other 40^., thirty-five years after the offence was committed.
The enormous amount of business of every kind that ac-
cumulated for the justices to supervise at these long-deferred
eyres generally caused the proceedings to be very protracted.
This one at Pickering, with occasional sittings at Hackness
for the liberty of the abbot of Whitby, actually lasted for two
years, though, of course, they were not continuous sittings.
Among matters investigated by a jury at these pleas was the
general amount of venison taken in the forest since the last iter.
The returns made showed that when John Dalton was constable
and keeper, he took 134 harts, and 158 hinds, bucks and does, as
well as five hinds that Henry Percy took by his leave, and three
hinds, three calves (red deer fawns), two fallow deer, and two
roe deer, which he took and gave away as he pleased. When
he appeared before the justices, Dalton stated that when keeper
under Earl Thomas he took harts, hinds, bucks, and does, and
delivered them in accordance with the earl's orders and pro-
duced his warrants. Among others were seventy-two harts,
THE FOREST OF PICKERING 115
fifty-six hinds, and forty-two fallow deer for the earl's larder ;
fourteen harts and eighteen hinds for tithe to the abbot of
St. Mary's, York ; three hinds for the Bishop of Ely ; and a
large number of single deer to all the chief families of the
district. The two roe deer and two calves were taken acci-
dentally by his hounds when in the forest, and he was not able
to rescue them alive. He denied taking and giving away
three hinds and two fallow deer, but judgment was given
against him in that, and he was fined £2, and had to find
sureties for good behaviour. During the time of his office
several hundred oaks were felled that were chiefly used for the
fortifications and repairs of the buildings and stockades of the
castle. Dalton was able to produce warrants for all save five
oaks, and for these he had to answer at the rate of 6d. each,
and 3o«r. for the offence.
Kilvington, when he was constable, had felled 107 oaks in
the forest, and 305 in Haugh Rise and Birkhow. In his time
152 harts and 159 hinds and fallow deer were taken in the
forest. He appeared, and said that all that he had done was by
royal warrant, save that thirty harts and fifty hinds had died
of murrain, and that their putrid carcases were hung on oaks
in the forest. He was given till i3th March, 1335, to obtain
certificates from the Exchequer. These certificates were ac-
cordingly produced at that date, but as they did not entirely
free him he was allowed to make a fine to the earl of £20 to
clear the remainder.
Richard Skelton, the late keeper, was dead ; the foresters
certified that during his time 390 harts and 524 hinds and
calves, etc., were killed, but about 500 of them died of murrain,
and that he gave a hunt after the earl's game to Anthony Bek,
Bishop of Durham, and another to Robert Bigot, who in each
case carried off their game ; but they were both dead.
They also made short returns for the brief periods that
.William le Eure, Adam Skelton, and Simon Simeon were
successive keepers ; in each case there were many deaths from
murrain.
Ralph Hastings was able to produce warrants for all vert
and venison since he had been keeper.
The Regard of the forest, presented on the opening day of
the eyre, introduced another class of business and investigation
n6 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
set forth under the various statutory articles. In this case the
sworn statements were of exceptional length, as they actually
had to present all assarts made in the forest since 28th October,
1217, namely, for 117 years ! Those between 1217 and the last
eyre were termed old assarts, and those since the last eyre
new assarts. All these assarts and enclosures, and encroach-
ments and spoiling of woods have been set forth at length by
Mr. Turton from the Coucher Book.
Agistment records were put in, beginning in the year 1290.
The pannage charge in both the East and West wards was id.
for a pig, and \d. for a little pig, that is under half a year old.
Particular indictments presented to the justices, when sitting,
in 1335, included charges against foresters of skinning a hart
that died of the murrain and keeping its skin, worth is. 4^., to
their own use ; foresters taking and retaining pasturage fees ;
foresters keeping pigs, horses, and beasts unlawfully ; the
prioress of Rosedale usurping the right of having a woodward
in Rosedale wood ; and the wrongful appropriation of honey.
The cases of vert trespasses committed within the demesne
since the eyre of 1280, that were presented at the eyre of 1334,
numbered only 93 ; but it must be remembered that the swain-
mote courts had power of dealing with the minor offences of
this nature, and that in many instances the trespassers and bail
must have been dead. The majority of the cases were for taking
green oaks of comparatively small value. The fines imposed
varied from i s. to £5. In addition to oaks, alders, hazels, hollies,
thorns, saplings, and poles are mentioned. The present ver-
derers were held responsible for the value-fines of the swain-
motes that their predecessors had received. Clergy, both
secular and religious, appear among the transgressors. Of the
former, the rectors of Brampton and Middleton, and the vicar
of Ebbeston, had to answer for comparatively small offences.
Of the latter, the offenders included the abbot of Whitby (for
a trifling offence), the priors of Bridlington and Malton, and
the preceptor of Foulbridge. The prior of Malton had the dis-
tinction of paying the heaviest vert fine of the whole eyre.
He took green thorn and hazels in Allantofts, value £i, and
carried it to Scarborough for kippering his herrings. The
prior appeared and was convicted, and though it was stated
that he had never since been found within the bounds of the
THE FOREST OF PICKERING 117
forest, he was held responsible for the value, and was further
fined the sum of .£5. Three servants of the prior of Bridling-
ton felled, for the use of the prior, a green oak by night in
Fulwood value 2d. They were caught whilst carrying it away
in a wagon worth 40^., drawn by four oxen, worth in all
£1 6s. 8d., and were handed over to the late prior to be pro-
duced at this eyre. The present prior was held responsible,
and in addition to the loss of wagon and oxen was fined 2s.
One of the servants was dead, and the two others, who had
been released on bail, did not appear. Their bail was ordered
to be forfeited, when it was found that they were all dead. This
was evidently an old case that had probably occurred soon
after the last eyre ; but the vert roll, unlike that for venison,
unfortunately gives no dates. There are several other instances
of forfeiture of wagons and oxen ; in these the value was
much lower than in the prior's case, for the other wagons are
all valued at 6d., and the oxen in sums varying from 2s. 8d. to
3-r. ^d. each.
The various cases of cattle taken within the forest that were
unagisted since the last eyre, included upwards of 150 different
charges. Such cattle were impounded by the forest ministers,
and as a rule their value was paid to the lord ere released.
These sums appeared in the annual accounts of the forest. It
seems that the usual course was for all these cases to be brought
before the eyre, but that no further proceedings were generally
taken if it was shown that the value-fine had been paid at the
time.
The fines for non-appearance on the first day of this pro-
tracted eyre were astonishingly numerous. They were
evidently levied according to the position of the offender,
and the extent of his rights within the forest. Thus the prior
of the Hospitallers was fined £3 ; Henry de Percy and Thomas
Wake, £2 ; William Latimer, £i los. ; and the abbot of
. Rievaulx and Sir Richard de Ros, £i. There were several
fines of 3^. 4^., and others of is. 8d. In thirty-two cases there
were is. fines, whilst 6d. was the forfeit paid by nearly 300
persons. The townships of Pickering and Goathland were
fined £i for non-appearance of their four men and reeves
on the first day, and four other townships smaller amounts. In
about a dozen cases there was no fine on account of poverty.
n8 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Robert Stephen, though fined 6d. , had nothing to pay because
he was a villein ; whilst John Foxlove was pardoned his fine
for two good reasons, as he was both poor and dead !
The records of various swainmote or attachment courts of
this forest for the year 1407-8 are extant. At one held at
Pickering on iyth September, the woodwards of Crosscliffe
and Stayndale were each fined 2d. for non-appearance. The
attachments for agistment of pigs in the West ward during the
close month were numerous.
The attendance of the officials at these minor courts seems
to have been slack. At a swainmote held on St. Matthew's
Day, the forester of Alayntoft was fined zd. ; John Gower, one
of the verderers, 6d. ; William de Roston, deputy regarder,
^d. ; John Westhorpe, regarder, 4^., for absence. The town-
ship of Brymyngeshoe was at the same time fined 6d. for the
absence of their reeve and four men.
Fines were paid this year before John de Sultan, lieutenant
for William de Roos, lord of Hamelake, the keeper of the
forest, for the lawing of dogs. The West ward paid the large
sum of £10 i8s. 8d., duly portioned out among the different
townships ; Pickering, with Goathland, paid 6os. ; Cropton,
with Hartoft, 30^. ; whilst others like Newton only paid 3-r. 4^.
The sum received for a like cause from the East ward was
£3 os. 8d.
The due number of courts, namely, one every forty days,
were held in 1408 at Pickering, and other forest centres.
At the Langdon court, Sir David de Rouclyffe was presented for
having felled in Goathland, in a close called Malton close,
nine oaks for a balk then being made in Pickering at a place
called Barylgate, and also seven oaks and twenty-three logs of
willow and linden for building there.
The forests pertaining to the Duchy of Lancaster naturally
suffered severely during the Wars of the Roses, and perhaps
none more so than Pickering. In October, 1489, Henry VII.
enjoined upon Brian Sandford, steward^ of the honor of
Pickering, constable of the castle, and "master forster of our
game within the seid honnor," that no manner of person be
permitted in any way to take or disturb the game for the space
of three years — "As it is common unto our knowledge that
our game of dere and warenne within our seid honnor is gretly
THE FOREST OF PICKERING 119
diminnished by excessive huntyng, and likely to be destroied,
without restreyn in the same be had in that depart." " We
desire," continued the king", "the replenisshyng of our seid
game not only for our singler pleasure but also for the disport
of other oure servantes and subjettes of wirshipp in theis
parties."
The country had apparently not sufficiently settled down for
justices to be spared at this period to go through the long pro-
cesses involved in forest pleas at Pickering, and the king, in
1494, appointed Brian Sandford and Richard Cholmley to act
as commissioners in procuring inquests as to the various
transgressions in the forest, taking cognisances of all offences
for the past five years. The jury, which included five esquires
and three gentlemen, first presented that, on ist July, 1489, Leo
Percy, lately of Ryton, esquire, a forester-of-fee, killed a buck
which Sir Thomas Metham had; on i2th July, a buck, which
Master Babthorp, reeve of Hemingborough had ; on aoth
December, a doe, which John Clay and Robert Milner of
Kirby Moorside had ; on 22nd December, three does, one of
which went to Sir John Pickering, another to Sir Thomas
Metham, and the third to John Hotham, of Scarborough ; and
also at divers times six does and one hind in the park of
Blandsby for his own use. In 1490 he killed nineteen, in 1491
nineteen, in 1492 fifteen, and in 1493 twelve, disposing of them
to such persons as those already named, as well as to the prior
of Watton, the rector of Levisham, Sir Marmaduke Constable,
Guy Fairfax, and Robert Constable, of Holm.
They also charged Roger Hastings, one of the foresters-of-
fee, with taking twenty deer.
On the other hand, Lionel Percy and Roger Hastings each
claimed as foresters-of-fee two harts and two bucks in summer,
and two harts and two does in winter ; but the jury disallowed
this, and returned that they were only permitted one course
for their dogs twice a year. " The two foresters claimed from
every deer slain within the forest both the shoulders as well as
the entrails, or numbles (barbillas, que barbille proprie noun-
billes evocantur}. But the jury disallowed this, stating that the
foresters-of-fee had only a right to the left shoulder, the right
shoulder and the entrails belonging to the master forester or
his lieutenant.
120 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
In a schedule supplied to the Commission of fallow deer
killed or taken out of the park of Blandsby, within the honor of
Pickering, by the steward and his deputies or by others at his
command, 12 are entered for 1488, including a buck each for the
dean of York and for the abbot of St. Mary, York; and 12 died
in the summer of that year of murrain. Of the 15 does killed
at Michaelmas, in 1489, 6 were retained by the steward and
2 by his clerk ; 6 died of murrain. But of 16 deer killed at
Easter of that year, the steward kept 4 bucks, and his clerk
3 does ; the murrain carried off 8 male deer. At Michaelmas,
1490, 13 deer were killed by the steward's orders, all does, of
which the dean of York received one ; the murrain was respon-
sible for the death of six. From this date up to the holding of
the Commission the number of deer killed by the steward's
orders averaged 15 a year. Of those killed at Easter, 1491, a
buck was assigned to " the weddyng of Crystofer Peghen," and
another "to making of a Preest." The last entry probably
refers to a feast given at Pickering by the parents of one who
had been admitted to priest's orders.
A separate schedule was presented of "the herts, hinds, and
other reade dere which have been taken by Bryan Sampford
Esquyre, steward of the honor of Pykeringe," or his deputies,
between 1488 and 1493. They included 9 harts, 3 hinds, 2
brocket, and i " Hyrsill." A hind was also found hurt with a
harrow in Newton Dale, which had to be slain. During this
period 15 red deer died of the murrain.
A prolonged and fierce dispute arose between Hastings and
Chomley as to this forest, of which extraordinarily full records
are still extant. Members of the Hastings family had been
frequently stewards of the honor of Pickering, constables of its
castle, and masters or keepers of the forest for some two centuries.
Richard II. had appointed Sir Edmund Hastings to these
offices, and Henry VII. had confirmed the appointment, and
made him also keeper of Blandsby park in the second year of
his reign. But Henry had soon cause to note the lax way in
which the old officials of the duchy discharged their duties,
and on the death of Sir Edmund Hastings severed the official
connection of that family with the honor of Pickering. Sir
Roger Hastings, as tenant of Kingthorpe, became one of the
foresters-of-fee, but Brian Sandford became master forester and
THE FOREST OF PICKERING 121
steward. Within five years, however, of his being appointed, the
new steward's laxity in both vert and venison came before the
very court of which he was joint commissioner with Richard
Cholmley, whilst two of the other chief offenders were, as we
have just seen, foresters-of-fee. The jury were themselves so
tainted that they failed to convict, and eventually Brian Sand-
ford was removed, and Sir Richard Cholmley appointed in his
place. Though a man of eminence, Cholmley had then no con-
nection with Pickering or the district, and his advent and that
of his family was bitterly resented by the Hastings, who were
not only jealous, but resentful towards the stricter forest rules.
In 1501 complaint was made to the chancellor of the duchy
by Sir Roger Hastings, one of the king's foresters of Pickering
forest, against Sir Richard Cholmley, master of the forest and
his deputies, for suffering great waste of both wood and deer
in the forest and park. The charges are set forth with much
particularity in a long schedule. The list of waste in those
woods of the king's demesne, where no free tenants were en-
titled to have any live trees, opens with thirty-six oaks assigned
to the abbot of Whitby and twenty oaks to the dean of York.
The allotment of forty-six other oaks is also specified. Various
charges were made against the master's servants, the gravest
of which was : —
" Item, the said Richard Chomely hath a servaunt called John
Colson, and he dayly ledes away the kinges wode be horse lade to
Scarbrougfh, some day iiij horses, and oft tymes vj horses dayly this
vij yeres and every yere to the value of v /z', sum xxxv li. "
The waste in the wood called "the Yath " was said to be
very considerable ; about 150 loads of wood are enumerated,
with the names of those who had them in a single year, as well
as a great many stubs. In the same year, in the grounds of
Deepdale, about 100 oaks had been felled by the officers and
servants of the master, out of which only a very few had been
used towards the repair of the castle walls.
As to the destruction of the king's game, Sir Richard
Cholmley was charged with hunting, chasing, and slaying with
greyhounds, bows and arrows, or permitting to be slain by
others, between 1499 and 1501, the following deer, the date,
place, and name of the exact offender being in each case
122 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
chronicled. Fallow deer : 4 buck, 2 sowers, 3 does ; red deer :
14 stags, 5 bucks, 17 harts, 19 hinds, 18 calves (both hind and
hart, but not always specified which), and 3 hyrsills. In
addition to this, 6 stags, i hart, i hind, and i calf had been
found dead in Langdon and Newton Dale with arrows in them.
The answer of Sir Richard Cholmley to the bill of complaint
of Sir Roger Hastings was brief, vigorous, and to the point.
He said that the charges were false, and only intended to
vex and trouble him, that neither the abbot of Whitby nor the
dean of York had ever had any timber out of Pickering forest
since he had been an official ; that the whole of the charges as
to the waste of wood were false, save that stubbs were delivered
to certain tenants by his officers for "firebote," according to
ancient usage. As to the game, he had given " certain dear to
the lords and gentylmen borderyng unto the said forrest
to thentent that they shuld be lovyng and favorable to the
kynges game there," and that their number and condition were
better than they had been when he entered on his office.
As a counterblast to this long and definite complaint, Roger
Cholmley (brother to Richard) and others laid complaints of a
much shorter character before the chancellor, in the following
year, as to certain offences committed by Sir Roger Hastings
in Pickering Lithe.
It became necessary to hold a local inquiry. The inquisi-
tion was opened at Pickering on ist May, 1503. The jury
found that in the year 1501 a stag was killed at Cross Cliff
for Lord Clifford ; a hart at Goathland for the Bishop of Carlisle ;
a stag for the Archbishop of York ; a hart for the Abbot
of Fountains; a stag for the Receiver-General of the Duchy; a
stag for Mr. Empson ; a stag killed by Sir Richard Cholmley
and given to the Ambassador of Scotland ; a stag killed by
Sir John Hotham and Sir Richard Cholmley ; and a brocket
killed by Sir Ralph Bigot ; also a buck and doe without
licence by two yeomen. The jury further stated that the red
deer in the forest of Pickering then numbered " 200 over and
above the number that were founden at thentre of the said
Sir Richard Cholmeley, and whereas the said Sir Richard
upon iiij yeres passed founde at his entre to said parke
(Blandsby) xviij score falowe dere, there be nowe 500 or
more."
PLATE XVI
BERNER AND LIMEHOUND
(FIFTEENTH CF.NTUKY)
CROSS-BOW SHOOTING
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY)
THE FOREST OF PICKERING 123
As to the charge of wood wasting, the jury were equally
emphatic, declaring that neither Sir Richard, nor his brother,
nor any of the officials, "did sell, give, nor emploie to theire
owne use any maner of wodde, excepte suche tymber and
wodde as by theym hathe beene delivered to the King's tenaunts
and freehoolders as of right and due unto them."
In addition to the findings of the juries, William Savage
and Thomas Magnus, before whom the inquest was held,
appended other valuable proof as to the condition of the forest
and park. They stated that they had diligently examined on
oath the foresters, keepers, and woodwards, as well as other
persons, and that even those who were adversaries of Sir
Richard had to admit that there were at least 200 red deer, a
greater number than when he entered on his office ; whilst
Sir Richard and others deposed that they now numbered
300. The Commissioners resolved to test the matter for them-
selves : —
" Item, we being perfitely enformed that the circuit of the said
foreste conteynneth upon Ix myles aboute, did take with us viij
persons, and went sodenly into the said foreste, and notwithstanding
there be noe lawnde wherunto the said dere shulde resoorte, but all
the moores in corne for the kingges tenants there, yet natheless the
said viij persons brought unto us withyne two houres vij or viij score
Rede dere, and soe we vewed thaym at the same sodeyn assemble."
As to the park, Sir Richard's adversaries did not deny that
there were 400 fallow deer, whilst his friends deposed on oath
that there were 500 ; the Commissioners on view believed the
latter statement to be true.
The foresters were accustomed and allowed to occasionally
take dead wood to Scarborough and elsewhere for sale ; but in
the case of John Colson, "he fortuned to toppe the toppes of
certaine stubbe oakes, and sold the same with his wyndefallen
wodde at Scarborough." But directly this came to Sir Richard's
knowledge, John Colson was dismissed from office openly in
court, and imprisoned in Pickering castle until he found
sureties for his future good behaviour.
The deer of Pickering forest dwindled during Henry VIII. 's
reign. In a return of all the king's deer north of the Trent,
drawn up in 1538, there were but 140 fallow deer and 50 red
i24 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
deer in the forest. But perhaps the deer in Blandsby park
escaped reckoning.
An inquisition was held as to the condition of the forest in
1562, the returns of the juries covering the period since the
death of Henry VIII. It was stated that since that time Sir
Richard Cholmley had felled eighty oak trees in Goathland,
and much in other parts of the forest to his own use, and that
he had used much timber in the making of his house at
Roxby ; that Sir Richard had taken down fourteen loads of
the best dressed stones out of the chief tower and other parts
of Pickering castle to build his gallery at Roxby, the castle
being in ruin and decay ; that the red deer were viewed to be
264, whereof 54 were male deer ; and that the fallow deer in
Blandsby park and woods adjoining were 600, whereof 77 were
male.
In 1591, the killing of any deer, red or fallow, within
Pickering forest, was prohibited for three years, as the stock
was getting greatly diminished.
A survey of the woods taken early in 1608 mentions that
the wall of stone round Blandsby park was greatly decayed
in many places, and that there were then about 100 deer in it.
The elaborate survey taken in 1619-21 by John Norden,
sworn to by forty-one jurors, gives full particulars as to
bounds, woods, wastes, encroachments, and general manorial
details. Norden complains that " the tenantes about Pickeringe
are so unrulie, as they make their owne pervers wills a
law." In connection with the "spoylers of woode," mention
is made of oak, ash, alder, and maple. There were no keepers'
lodges in any part of the forest save in Blandsby park, where
there were two.
' ' The foreste game shoulde be redd deere, but few lefte within the
foreste, and they that are raunge into confininge woodes of Sr
Thomas Posthumus Huby, having litle or noe covert els within the
foreste, but Newton Dale onlie, where they are often disturbed with
stealers of woode, so that it is manifest that for everye redd deare in
the forest there are 5000 sheepe. The parke is replenishte with
fallow deere, but being unstaunchte (unsatisfied) they raunge over
all the adjacent feildes."
A detailed survey of the honor and its members was also
THE FOREST OF GALTRES 125
drawn up in 1651. " Wee find," say the Commissioners,
"that within the Honor of Pickering there is a Forest, a
Chace, and a Parke (as it did appeare unto us by an ancient
Veredict, and by the Testimony of many ancient Inhabitants),
and also certaine Lands that are no part of the Forest."
Neither red nor fallow deer are mentioned, but they could not
have been extinct.
The honor of Pickering had been settled on Queen Henrietta
Maria as part of her jointure. At the Restoration it reverted
to her, and a survey was made in 1661. It is therein stated :
"There is a forest called the forest of Pickeringe Leighe, and
a park called Blandesbie parke belonging to the Honor. The
Parke is stored with deare, but the game within the forest is
almost quite decayed."
GALTRES
In the centre of Yorkshire, extending right up to the walls
of York, was the great hunting district known as the forest
of Galtres. It stretched at one time about twenty miles north-
ward from York to the ancient town of Aldburgh ; being royal
demesne, it was a favourite hunting-ground of the Saxon
kings. From the days of Henry III. downwards, the incidents
connected with this forest and its administration are of frequent
occurrence, and it is strange that it has not found an historian.
The exigencies of space only permit a few brief extracts. The
two Yorkshire forests, whose officials received express directions
as to the disposal of the cablish after the great storm of 1222,
were those of Galtres and of the district between the Ouse and
the Derwent. In 1227 Henry III. ordered the bailiffs of
Hugh de Neville in the forest of Galtres to supply wood and
charcoal for three days for the use of the archbishop in his
house at York. In the same year the king gave four oaks out
of this forest for the repair of the bridge at Topcliffe, and ten
oaks to the prior of Marton for the building of his church.
A perambulation of the forests of Yorkshire was made in
1229, when it was certified that the whole forest of Galtres, the
forest between the Ouse and the Derwent, and the forest of
Farndale were true ancient forests of the king.
In 1231 oaks were furnished from this forest for the repair of
mills at York, and on October of that year the king ordered
126 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
fifty hinds to be supplied for his use (salted venison) in the
coming season from Galtres forest ; in the same month he
instructed the sheriff of York to obtain a sufficiency of wood
and charcoal from this district against his coming visit to York
on the Sunday before Martinmas.
Edward I., in 1280, gave the prioress and nuns of St.
Clement's, York, six oaks fit for timber out of Galtres, and
made a like gift to the Franciscans of Scarborough. In the
following year Geoffrey de Neville, the keeper, was ordered
to supply twelve bucks to the Earl of Surrey ; whilst six does
were presented to the Archdeacon of Newark in the ensuing
January. In the summer of 1283 there were numerous royal
gifts of bucks from Galtres ; on i8th September the keeper was
directed to supply Anthony Bek, the elect of Durham, with
twenty-five bucks.
Philip le Lardiner, son and heir of David le Lardiner,
obtained seisin of the serjeanty of the forestry of the forest of
Galtres, after doing homage for it, in January, 1284, which
David at his death held of the king in chief. In the
same year the Franciscans of York obtained six oaks for
the work of their church ; whilst the dean of York (Robert de
Scarborough) obtained ten live does to help to stock his park
of Brotherton, and the master of St. Leonard's Hospital, York,
four live bucks and eight live does to stock a park of his. In
1286 a regard was ordered to be taken in preparation for a
forest eyre.
On 28th October, 1307, the sheriff of York received a man-
date to assemble the foresters and regarders of Galtres to make
a regard prior to the arrival of the forest justices. They were
to elect new regarders in the place of those dead and infirm, so
that there were twelve in each regard. The foresters were to
swear to lead the twelve knights through their bailiwicks to
view all trespasses which were to be expressed in the written
capitula sent to the sheriff. The knights were to swear to
make a true regard, and if the foresters did not lead them,
or wished to conceal any forfeiture, the knights on that account
were not to omit to view the forfeiture. The regard was to be
made before the Feast of the Purification. Assarts made since
2 Henry III. were to be viewed, and their acreage, sowing, and
ownership, and all other particulars, written down. All pur-
THE FOREST OF GALTRES 127
prestures, old and new, were to be likewise stated in full
detail.
Orders were given in 1308 for the tithe of the whole venison
taken in Galtres to be delivered to the abbot and convent of
St. Mary's, York, in accordance with the grants of the king's
predecessors. In 1311, and on various subsequent occasions,
the king ordered the sheriff to cause new verderers to be
elected for Galtres in the place of those removed by the Crown
for insufficiency. Forest pleas were held at York in 1311, and
again in 1313.
Various attachment court rolls of this forest, temp. Edward
II., are extant. There were six such courts held in 1313-17,
namely, three at Easingwold, two at Huby, near Sutton-on-
the- Forest, and one at " Hillulidgate." The fines imposed
were chiefly for taking wood by the cartload. The
Epiphany court at Huby imposed a fine of 6d. for twenty-
four such cases, and one of i2d. The fines at the Easingwold
court, at Ascensiontide, amounted to 18^., and included sixteen
at 6d., two at is., and four at 2s., all vert cases. The fines at
the St. John Baptist court at Huby included thirteen cases of
turning out horses at 6d. each, and one of $s. ^d. for the
irregular agisting of pigs. At another court there was a small
fine for collecting acorns.
The number of courts held annually seems to have been
irregular ; but possibly those only are entered where there was
business to transact. Thus the rolls record eight courts in
1317-18 and eleven courts in 1318-19. In the latter year
William Carlton, butcher, of York, was fined 2s. for twelve
pigs taken in the forest in time of pannage. At the same court
the straying of a black runt or steer (unum runctum nigrurri)
cost the owner izd., and there was also a fine of 6d. for the
straying of a colt (pro haymaldatione j pullani). The pannage
of pigs at Huby brought in 3^. lod. ; at Easingwold, 26s. id. ;
.pigs were charged id. each, and little pigs \d. The fence
month payments of the different townships amounted to
IDS. id. ; cheminage dues to los. A much larger sum was
obtained when the dogs were lawed. In one year of this
reign the lawing fees amounted to £g 8s. ; the payment
was 3-r. in each case, save in one instance, when the owner
pleaded poverty, and the fee was lowered to I2d.
128 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
A perambulation was made on oath as to the bounds of this
forest in 1316, from which it becomes clear that the forest of
Galtres comprised about sixty townships, containing within
its demesne about 100,000 acres, or nearly the whole of the
wapentake of Bulmer. The boundary line, beginning at
4 'the foot of the wall of the city of York," passed nearly due
north to Crayke, and thence round by Stillington, Farlington,
and Strensall, and so to Huntingdon, "even to the foot of
the wall of Layrthorpe Bridge, where the perambulation
began."
The bounding jury also testified that there was but one
forester-of-fee in this forest, namely, John Hayword, who
held his bailiwick for the term of his life by the gift of
Edward II.
In 1472, John Shupton, who held the office of riding forester
in Galtres by letters patent of Henry IV., surrendered his letters
in Chancery to be cancelled in favour of his son William.
This was granted on payment of the usual fees, with ^4 yearly
for certain herbage.
There are also various Galtres attachment court rolls extant
of the reign of Henry VI. (1422-60). Interesting reference is
therein made to the custom of Thistiltak, or thistletake, though
not at that period producing any appreciable income. ' * Thistle-
take " was a term at one time in use in Yorkshire, Lancashire,
and Cheshire for a customary fee of \d. a head from drovers,
through certain forests or over certain commons, if they per-
mitted their beasts to graze to any extent, even to the snatching
of a single thistle.
In 1432 the agistment of cattle produced 15^., and the pan-
nage of pigs 6s. 4^. Fines for taking a cartload of " ramell "
(copse-wood) varied from 4^. to 6d., and for a cartload of
" grissell " (which seems to have been a term for fresh cut
grass for fodder) 6d. to &d.
In 1483 Richard III. granted for life to his servant Geoffrey
Frank, one of the esquires of the body, the office of the keeper
of the king's laund within the forest of Galtres, with fees of £10
yearly at the hands of the receiver of the lordship of Sheriff
Huttun, and other profits. Grants were also made about the same
time by the king to two out of the four foresterships ; each of the
four foresters had a wage of 4^. a day. Another office filled by
THE FOREST OF GALTRES 129
Richard III. in the following year was that of steward of
Sutton within the forest of Galtres.
Some interesting particulars relative to this forest occur in
connection with an eyre of the time of Henry VIII. At pleas
held on iyth June, 1528, William Maunsell appeared as chief
steward; Francis Coket was riding forester; Sir George Law-
son and John Jenynges, Esquire, were the two foresters, each
with a deputy; Ralph Hungayth, Esq., and Christopher
Fenton, gent., were the two chief verderers. The constable
and four men from each of the townships of Easingwold,
Haxby, Alne, Tollerton, Newton, Skelton, Clifton, Muggin-
ton, Huby, Strensall, and Stillington appeared.
Among the presentments were an assart of 80 acres by the
treasurer of York Cathedral, a forester selling 100 loads of
underwood in the last twenty years, the neglect of paling
launds, the grazing of too many cattle, and trespass with
crossbow and greyhounds.
Lord Cromwell, as chief justice of the forests, in addition to
the privilege of common pasture for twelve score horned cattle,
received £6 13$. ^>\d. in fees from different townships.
11 The office of the Ryding Forester with his fees accustomed "
is thus set forth : —
" Furst the Rydyng Forester office is to ryde the perambula-
tions with the kepers and the King his tenauntes at the tymes accus-
tomede, to see and enqueare of all them that kepythe anye Closyng
in Severallie that ought to be open in Winter, And also to hunte the
purlewes and outer groundes with his houndes according to thoffice
of a keper.
" Item the saide Rydyng Forester haythe in his Fee accustomede
within the saide Foreste as folowethe Fyrste of Saynt Marie in Yorke
iijjr iiijfl?, of the Maister of the Comons their ijs, of Saynt leonardes in
Yorke iijs vjd, at Huntington of holme landes iij^ iiijo?, of the Vicarage
of Sutton ijs, of Shipton lands in Shipton ijs, at Newton upon Ouse
9 iijs vjd, at Easingwold of the Kyng his tenauntes their ij.y vjd, at New-
brough ijj, at Byland ij.y, in tachment monye iij^.
" Suma, xxixs ijV
"The office of the Bowebearer and Receyvor wythe his fees
accustomed.
" Furste the saide Bowbearer ought dailie to walke throughe all
the saide Forest as one keper ayther by hym selve or his deputie or
K
130 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
deputies. Also he hayth in his Fee all forfayte Skynes bothe in
Wynter and Somer by accustome. Also he haythe in Fee of Saynt
Marye Abbaye in Yorke xijaf, in Tachement monye iiij^ one yere &
njs v]d one other yere, at Newborogh xijd, at Bylande xij*/. Item he
haythe oute of the Extreacte for his receyvourshippe 405.
" Suma viij /z v'njs xd"
Cromwell also held the office of master of the game in this
forest, and was declared entitled to rights of herbage, pannage,
browsing, " cokkyes or the netting of woodcocks, windfallen
wood, fishing and fowling, and the Laund House lodge with its
herbage, of the estimated annual value of £10', also i2d for
gayte lawe in the hole forest of every 20 horse 6d, of every 20
cattle, & 4tf? every score of sheep, & zd of every pakkehorse,
2(1 for the hole year of every wayne, in fence moneth 4^ other
time zd ; also 34^ 8d St Thomas day, and the last day of fence
moneth in certain proportions from the townships. Suma
£20. i. o"
The jury returned that " gate-lawe " had been leased for
26s. 8d. and had been highly misused by the farmer. They
considered that gate money might be taken of all the " bound-
erers " that carried their own wood 2d., and 4^. if carrying
other men's wood, together with \d. for every horse ; also ^d.
for every horse carrying merchandise or other stuff to or from
the city of York.
During the civil war of the seventeenth century, which raged
so fiercely round York, the forest of Galtres naturally suffered
severely. It was disafforested in the time of Charles II.
Lack of space prohibits any reference to the Yorkshire forests
of Hatfield Chase, Knaresborough, and Wensleydale.
CHAPTER XII
THE FORESTS OF CHESHIRE
THE history of the royal forest of Wirral, as well as of
other Cheshire forests, yet remains to be written. There
are two large histories of the hundred of Wirral
(Mortimer, 1847 ; and Sulley, 1889), but neither of them give
more than a sentence or two to the story of its forest. There
are citations from and references to various documents per-
taining to this forest in Helsley's fine edition of Ormerod's
Cheshire (1882); but there is much information to be gleaned
that has not been touched.
On nth September, 1275, the Crown instructed Gaucelin de
Badelesmere, justice of Chester, to permit Roger Lestrange
to take two stags in the forest of Wirral for the king's use, and
to cause them to be salted and brought with other venison to
the king at Westminster by Michaelmas.
In August, 1279, the same justice was ordered to cause the
abbot of St. Werburgh's, Chester, to have a hart in Wirral
forest for the feast of that saint.
Licence was granted, in 1283, to the lepers of the house of
Bebington, within the forest, to enclose five acres of their
waste and bring it into cultivation ; but the dyke was to be
a small one and the hedge low, so that the deer if they desired
could leap it. In 1303 a hind that was found dead in the
forest, with an arrow in its side, was given to these lepers
according to the forest assize, but the arrow was the perquisite
of the forester.
By an ordinance of 1284 it was provided that a hart was to
be given annually to the abbey of Chester on the feast of
St. Werburgh, and also the tithe of the venison yearly, in aid
132 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
of the great work of the building of the church, as was done
in the forest of Delamere.
In 1328 the chamberlain of Chester was ordered to pay
Richard de Weford the arrears of his wages as riding forester
of Wirral, and to continue them annually, as the king had
appointed Richard to this office at the request of Queen Isabel
before his accession, in consideration of his services to her,
and he was to hold this office for life provided he conducted
himself well in the bailiwick. There seems to have been some
neglect about this order, for it was repeated in 1329 to Oliver
de Ingham, justice of Chester.
The citizens of Chester suffered so much from the shelter
afforded to marauders by the forest so closely adjacent to its
walls, that they petitioned Edward the Black Prince, then Earl
of Chester, to cause it to be disforested. This was accom-
plished, but not until after the prince's death, just at the close
of the reign of Edward III. The Stanleys valued the per-
quisites of the master forestership at £40 per annum, but
only received a pension of twenty marks on the abolition of
the forest jurisdiction. Although at this date they lost all
power and perquisites, the Stanleys of Hooton long continued
titular foresters of Wirral, and were so styled in documents of
the reign of Henry VII.
There was a good deal of woodland throughout the forest of
Wirral in early days, as is proved, inter alia, by place and
field names such as Woodchurch, Ashfield, Maplegreen,
Okhill, etc. Place names also show where the lodges of
several of the old wards or divisions of the forest stood. There
is an old adage that says : —
" From Blacon point to Hillree
A squirrel could leap from tree to tree."
That is, from Chester to the extreme north-western point of
the peninsula of Wirral ; but it is highly unlikely that this was
the case in historic times. At all events, the wood had seriously
diminished some years before Wirral was disforested, for in
1359 William Stanley, the hereditary forester, received a grant
of four oaks out of the forest of Greves from the Black Prince,
as he understood that Stanley had no wood for fuel in his own
forest.
THE FORESTS OF CHESHIRE 133
Within this forest was Shotwick Park, attached to the
strong royal castle of that name. Various references to the
game and timber in this forest are given by Ormerod.
THE FOREST OF MARA AND MOUDREM
These two considerable forests of Cheshire are generally
mentioned in old documents in conjunction, although they had
in some respects separate jurisdiction. The whole of this
united forest district extended over all the hundred of Eddis-
bury save a few parishes, and over a greater part of the
hundred of Nantwich. The forest of Mara was bounded by
the Mersey on the north, and had the forest of Wirral on the
west, whilst that of Moudrem stretched out to the south-east
in the direction of Nantwich.
Ormerod tells us that " the jurisdiction was originally vested
in four families" — Kingsley of Kingsley, Grosvenor of Bud-
worth, Wever of Wever, and Merton of Merton, by which we
suppose is meant that these four families held hereditary
foresterships-of-fee. The master forestership of the whole was
conferred early in the twelfth century on Ralph de Kingsley to
hold on horn tenure, in the same way as that of Wirral. The
Dones afterwards succeeded to the Kingsleys in the master
forestership and in the forestership-of-fee. At the forest pleas,
held at Chester in 1271, each of the four foresters-of-fee were
fined heavily for destruction of woods ; Done and Grosvenor
£13 6s. 8d. each, Merton £10, and Wever £5. Richard
Done, as chief forester of Mara and Moudrem, claimed at
that eyre to have eight under-foresters and two grooms, who
boarded with the tenants ; two strikes of oat at Lent from
every tenant for provender for his own horse ; bracken at all
times save the hunting season ; pannage and agistment of
pigs ; windfalls, and lops of felled trees ; crabstakes and
stubbs ; half the bark of felled trees ; all cattle and goats taken
at non-agistment times, \d. each, and the same of straying
beasts between Michaelmas and Martinmas; all sparrowhawks,
merlins, and hobbies ; all swarms of bees ; the right shoulder
of every deer taken in the forest ; the horns and skin of every
"stroken deer" found dead; waifs found in the forest; the
hunting of foxes, hares, cats, weasels, and other vermin with
134 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
hounds or greyhounds ; and the pelfe, or best beast of any that
committed felony or trespass in the forest, and fled for the
same, the lord having the residue.
The forest of Delamere, as it was afterwards called, was dis-
afforested by Act of Parliament in 1812. Various interesting
particulars are given by Ormerod, chiefly taken from the
Harl. MSS.
FOREST PLEAS OF WIRRAL AND DELAMERE
A joint eyre was held at Chester for the forests of " Wirrall,
Mara et Moudrem," in August, 1347, which has hitherto
escaped the attention of county historians. It was over twenty
years since the last of these pleas had been held. Thomas de
Ferrars was the justice in charge of the pleas. A considerable
number of claims were brought forward, supported by charters
which were enrolled. Among them were the claims of the
abbots of Chester, Basingwerk, and Chester. One of the lay
claims was that of William de Stanley, as chief forester of
Wirral, to hunt hares and foxes with greyhounds at all times
of the year ; and that of John de Pennesley to dig turves, burn
charcoal, and to obtain litter at any time of the year in Wirral
forest, and to hunt with greyhounds and other dogs on foot, as
well as large rights of pasturage. But some of the claimants
overreached themselves, and were fined for making claims
which they failed to establish. Among those who were thus
mulcted were the abbot of Basingwerk, 40^. ; the abbot of
Vale Royal, 2u., and Robert de Bradeford and Robert de
Swynnerton half a mark each.
There were a very great number of cases of purpresture or
encroachment at these pleas, showing that the regard that pre-
ceded the pleas must have been a thorough one. As examples,
the following may be briefly mentioned : John Hotherinde
was indicted for building a certain house without warrant ; he
was declared in mercy, and the house was ordered to be
levelled. Richard de Trafford had enclosed five acres without
warrant ; he was in mercy, and the fences were to be destroyed
and the land thrown open. Robert le Hog was charged with
taking eighty acres of moor and marsh in the parish of Wim-
balds Trafford for agisting his own beasts without warrant, to
THE FORESTS OF CHESHIRE 135
the annual value of 40^., and this for the last twenty years, so
that there was neither agistment nor pannage for anyone
else ; he was declared in mercy, and the eighty acres were to
be taken from him. In another case a man had erected a mill
without licence, and the building was ordered to be pulled
down ; and in another case a man was in mercy for opening a
marl pit.
The vert presentments of Wirral forest were exceedingly
numerous. They were all cases of felling trees, not mere
lopping. Their values varied from 2s. to 40-?. Like present-
ments were also very numerous from Mara and Moudrem ; the
value charges, in addition to court fines, varied from 2s. to 2os.
In some cases the transgressions were of a wholesale character,
such as that of Thomas de Erdeswyk, who had felled sixty
oaks. He was dead, but his wife appeared, and was fined a
mark. Sir William de Legh, deputy keeper of Mara and Mou-
drem under Richard Doun, was charged by the jury with
selling wood out of the lordship to the value of more than
;£ioo, and the same in conjunction with the sub-forester, doing
the like in the forest of Moudrem to the extent of 100 marks.
It is interesting to note the appreciation shown for a well-
grown and beautiful tree ; Peter de Thornton was charged with
felling and carry ing off una pulcherrima guercus, valued at4cw.
The venison cases show that there was an abundance of
game, both red and fallow. Richard Spark was charged with
killing many harts and hinds, as well as bucks and does, in
Delamere forest, the exact number not being known. In
Wirral forest two men who had killed a stag were released
from imprisonment on paying the respective fines of 40^. and
2os. In another case in the same forest the transgressors had
been hunting deer with a strangely mixed pack, consisting of
a greyhound, a mastiff, and a cur.
The presentments at these pleas were made, for Wirral, by
William de Stanley, keeper ; Henry de Acton, riding forester,
and by Richard de Haydock and five other foresters ; those for
Mara et Moudrem, or Delamere, by Richard Doun, keeper,
Thomas de Clyve, riding forester, and by Robert Shefeld and
six other foresters.
136 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
THE FOREST OF MACCLESFIELD
Cheshire possessed another considerable forest on the east
side of the county. About a third of the large hundred of
Macclesfield, including the town of Macclesfield and eighteen
other townships, was forest even at the time of the Domesday
Survey. It was usually known as the forest of Macclesfield ;
but in its earlier life, from its position on the borders of the
palatinate, it was often called the forest of Lyme. The heredi-
tary forestership or keepership of this forest, in conjunction
with that of Leek, was granted to Richard Davenport, of
Davenport, towards the end of the twelfth century, by Hugh
Kevelioc, Earl of Chester. It continued attached to the earl-
dom of Chester until its termination, when it passed to the
Crown. But at an early date the forest area was materially
lessened by a variety of Crown grants. A considerable por-
tion, however, was not alienated from the Crown until after
the Restoration. Up to the period of the Commonwealth the
open forest was fairly well stocked with deer. Under the chief
forester there were eight hereditary foresters-of-fee, bound to the
performance of certain duties (often exercised by deputy), and
possessed of considerable liberties. In the time of Edward I.
the foresters' liberties included the hunting of hare, fox, squirrel,
and cat, with rights of fishing, fowling, and nutting. In addi-
tion to pannage and pasturage liberties, they also claimed the
forearm (spandd) of deer taken in the forest, and all of any
deer found dead in the forest, save the four limbs, which went
to the manor of Macclesfield.
Swainmotes were regularly held at Macclesfield, and forest
pleas, from time to time, in the same town, under the justice of
Chester. Ormerod (iii. 539) gives a transcript of a swainmote
of this forest temp. Elizabeth, and a few other particulars ; but
the history of this forest remains practically unwritten, and not
for lack of material.
CHAPTER XIII
THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE
THE ancient forest of Needwood was situated in the
northern extremity of the hundred of Offlow, and in
the four parishes of Tutbury, Hanbury, Tatenhill, and
Yoxall. It was famed not only for the beauty, extent, and
size of its timber, but more especially for the richness of its
pasture land.
The earliest particulars with regard to Needwood forest,
whilst it was yet under the control of the Ferrers, occur in the
minister's accounts for 1255-6. The foresters named for Tut-
bury ward were Robert Coan and Robert de Wynfleth ; among
the receipts were 13^. lod. for the sale of dead wood, 3^. ^d.
for the sale of forty customary rent hens, JS. %d. for agistment
of cattle, 7-r. 8d., and for a charcoal-burner's licence for ten
and a half weeks, i is. ^d. The court fines of this ward in-
cluded several penalties of 6d. for collecting nuts, and one
for charcoal burning without a licence, but were chiefly for vert
offences. The total ward receipts were £2 i8s. 6d. Barton
ward produced £4. gs. 8d. ; Marchington ward, £3 i6.r. i\\d. ;
and Uttoxeter ward, £2 gs. id. The swine turned out in the
forest for pannage amounted to 227, of which twelve went for
tithe, six in alms, one to the steward, and one to the chief
forester.
( On the attainder of Robert Earl Ferrers in 1266, his confis-
cated estates were granted by Henry III. to his son Edmund,
afterwards created Earl of Lancaster. One of the finest portions
of these estates, afterwards known as the Duchy of Lancaster,
was the honor of Tutbury, and within its limits was the splendidly
wooded and exceptionally fertile stretch of Needwood forest.
An extent of the lands of Edmund, the king's brother, drawn
138 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
up 1298, gives definite particulars relative to Needwood forest.
It was then divided into the five wards of Yoxall, Barton,
Tutbury, Marchington, and Uttoxeter.
In Yoxall ward the agistment of cattle produced 30^., the
sale of bark of lime trees 14^. $d. the pannage of swine 30^.,
and court fees and escapes 6s. 8d. The sum of 'js. yd. was also
realised by the sale of eighty-eight hens, the customary payment
of the tenants. In this ward was Rowley Park, the profits of
which in herbage, mast, and wood was £i 6s. 8d. The whole
profits of the ward came to £13 i$s.
The profits of the ward of Barton from the like sources were
,£5 6s. gd. Barton Park was in this ward, together with a hay
called High Lindes.
Tutbury ward, including the parks of Rolleston, Hanbury,
and Stockley, and Castlehay, produced £12 los. 8d.
The hens, agistment, pannage, woodmote fees, etc., of
Marchington ward, with the park of Agardsley, made receipts
to the amount of £6 is. Sd.
The like sources in Uttoxeter ward, together with the herb-
age and mast of a hay called the More, produced ,£3 i8s. q.d.
The annual value of the whole forest, etc. (apart from all
demesne lands and manorial rights, which were ten times the
value of the forest), amounted at this date to ,£41 i is. $d.
There is also a full record extant of the forest accounts for
1313-14. Robert de Cruce was the receiver of Tutbury ward.
The receipts included 5^. $d. for the sale of forty-two hens ;
2s. 8d. for wood ; 2s. for passage of carts and pack-horses ;
26s. id. for agistment of cattle ; 103^. for agistment in Castle-
hay; 25.?. qd. for the like in Stokely Park, and 12^. in Hanbury
Park; Jis. 2d. for windstrewn boughs for deer in winter;
9-r. for shingles ; £8 for all underwood in the ward and Castle-
hay sold for deer in winter ; £8 for the like in Rolleston
Park, and £2 in Hanbury Park ; gd. for honey and wax ;
2s. q.d. for sale of a stray bullock ; £5 15^. 6d. in woodmote fees;
3.?. $^d. for sale of 167 old pales of Stokely Park, and 23^.
for the old pales of Hanbury Park ; yielding a total of
£51 IQS. q.d. The expenses came to ^43 i8s. ^\d. ; the wages
of the men getting the deer-browse in the ward and Castlehay
amounted to i6s. 4^.; making 167 new pales for Stokely Park,
IQS. 4f«f. ; and 3,?. for lock and door for the forest lodge at
THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE 139
Birkley. The wages of the parkers of Hanbury and Rolleston
were each 15^. 2d., whilst that of the parker of Castlehay was
3OJ. ^d.
The receipts of Barton ward, Ralph Laying receiver, were
£13 \2s. yd., and the expenses £13 5-r. 2d. John Don was the
receiver of Marchington ; receipts .£27 2s. 7%d., expenses
£28 2s. >]\d. Robert de Tuppeleye was receiver of Uttoxeter ;
receipts £50 15.?. o^d., expenses £22 I2S. 6\d. The receipts of
Yoxall ward, Richard Coking receiver, were £34 ijs. 8^d.,
whilst the expenses were £29 igs. jd.
In the accounts of 1321-2, the expenses include ^d. a day
to a carpenter engaged for three days in mending the gates
of the Castlehay Park, \\d. a day for three days for fourteen
men engaged in ditching, and 3^. for an iron for branding the
cattle.
Woodmote courts were held for each ward. A forest roll
of 1336-7 (in bad condition) gives 2S. 6d. as the receipts of the
woodmote of Tutbury ward, held on February nth, in vert
fines, chiefly for taking whitethorn. The taking of a cartload
of greenwood out of Hanbury Park incurred a fine of 6d. The
fines for vert trespasses in Castlehay amounted to qs. 4^., in-
cluding i$d. for taking a horseload of old wood. The fines
about this date at the court of Marchington ward amounted
to 2s. iod., and included the straying of foals in the wood.
The woodmote courts of the five wards, held about Martin-
mas, 1370, brought in a larger amount of fines: Tutbury,
gs. id. ; Marchington, 9^-. qd. ; Yoxall, 3^. iod. ; Barton, 3^.;
and Uttoxeter, 2s. iod. The penalties were chiefly for remov-
ing horse, cart, or wagon loads of wood.
A full woodmote roll of 1-2 Richard II. gives £7 6s. jd. as
the total of the fines of all the courts of that year. A sledge-
load of wood, called drag, or draw, is of frequent occurrence in
this roll. The vert fines varied from 2d. to 8d. a case. At a
• Marchington ward woodmote, there were four cases of removing
cartloads of old wood, four of green wood, and two of a mixture
of old and green ; the horseloads were thirteen in number, and
the sledgeloads sixteen.
The pannage fees of the whole forest, termed " tak," realised
in 1400 £5 gs. $^d. The total forest receipts of that year
amounted to £43 is. \\d.
i4o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
At an unusually heavy Marchington woodmote in 1403, when
the fines amounted to us. qd., the penalty in each case for
a cartload of wood was 8d., and for a horseload 6d. An in-
quisition held that year in Tutbury ward convicted Robert
Amond, John Roberg, John Fuklyn, and Giles Fuklyn, monks
of the Cluniac priory of Tutbury, of breaking into the castle
park, on Thursday, after the feast of St. Margaret, and there
killing a doe and a fawn. This is one of the very few cases
of conviction of monks for venison trespass. Woodmotes
of this year were held at Birkley, or Byrkley, the site of the
chief lodge.
A few years later the Benedictine monks of Burton were
in trouble, but only for wood trespass.
Rolls relative to the minor forest courts of Needwood for the
fifteenth and first half of the sixteenth centuries are exception-
ally numerous.
At the forest woodmote held at Birkley on i5th May, 1450,
various venison trespasses were presented, such as making
snares (retia) and buckstalls, breaking into parks, hunting
with greyhounds, and killing several fallow deer. There were
seventeen separate charges, some of which involved several
persons.
Various other records of woodmotes held in the last half
of the fifteenth century are well worth consulting.
At the woodmote held on 3rd June, 1524, at Birkley Lodge,
thirty-one trespassers in Tutbury ward were fined in small sums
for ordinary lopping offences — one for breaking park pales,
another 2s. for cutting eight oaks, and two men 3-r. q.d. each
for carrying off two cartloads of wood. The fines for this ward
amounted to 18^. 6d. At the same court the fines in Barton
ward were $s. yd., in Yoxall QS. 8d., in Uttoxeter 2s. 10^.,
and in Marchington 13^. gd.
In Sir Oswald Mosley's History ofTamworth (1832) various
interesting particulars of the forest customs of Needwood and
Duffield are set forth at length.
The abbot of Burton-on-Trent and the prior of Tutbury held
special privileges and peculiar rights in the forest of Needwood.
One of the many unforeseen unhappy results of the wholesale
suppression of the religious houses was the throwing into
confusion of a variety of forest customs. Those on whom
PLATE XVII
DOG LEECHING
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY)
REWARDING THE HOUNDS
(FIFTEENTH CENTUKY)
THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE 141
the monastic estates were conferred not unnaturally endeavoured
to sustain claims that had not been resisted when made by
the public almoners of a district. Considerable conflict arose
with regard to such matters at Needwood, and the absence
of the checks exercised by the woodwards, appointed by various
religious houses in most English forests, was one of the chief
causes that led in this district to much wrongdoing on the part
of the officials.
The detection of a particular keeper in a grave case of
peculation in 1540 brought about a careful inquiry into the
general conduct of the officials. It was then ascertained that
in a single year the keeper of Tutbury Wood had .cut down
and sold 45 loads of timber, the keeper of Marchingdon, in
loads ; the keeper of Barton, 170 loads ; the keeper of Yoxall,
124; and the keeper of Uttoxeter, 64. No forest could possibly
stand the drain of an annual sale of 841 loads. The fraudulent
keepers were discharged, and a certain amount of reformation
achieved.
A survey of the parks of Needwood was taken in the reign
of Philip and Mary, when the jury found that the deer of
the castle park numbered 137, that those in Rolleston Park
numbered 105 ; those of Stokeley Park, 160 ; those of Barton
Park, 104 ; those of Shireholt Park, 144 ; those of High Lynns
Park, 127 ; and that Castlehay Park had been disparked in
favour of the king's "race of great horses," and Hanbury
Park reserved for the king's stud mares. A great waste of
trees was in progress, and it was known that many had been
cut down without any warrant, as the stools still standing showed
no sign of the mark of the king's axe. Among the claims then
made by the tenants or commoners was that of "hoar lynt."
This term signified the white wood of the lime or linden
tree after the basters had stripped such timber of the bast or
inner bark for cordage or mats.
, The survey of the first of Elizabeth, cited at length in Shaw's
Staffordshire, says : —
"The forest or chase of Needwood is in compasse by estimation
twenty-three miles and a half, and the nearest part thereof is distant
from the Castle of Tutbury but one mile. In it are 7,869 acres and
an halfe, and very forest-like ground, thinly sett with old oakes and
timber trees, well replenished with coverts of underwood and thornes,
142 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
which might be copiced in divers parts thereof for increase of wood
and timber, lately sore decayed and spoyled."
After giving the bounds and acreage of the four wards
then extant, and naming the former fifth ward of Uttoxeter,
the survey enumerates the ten parks within the forest, but
Rowley Park had been granted by Henry VIII. to Justice
Fitzherbert and his heirs.
The size of the nine parks of Castle, Castlehay, Rolleston,
Stokeley, Hanbury, Barton, Shireholt, Highlands, and Agards-
ley, with the number of deer and condition of timber in each,
are also duly set forth.
Elizabethan records of Needwood woodmotes are numerous.
A woodmote was held at Birkley on iyth August, 1581, before
George, Earl of Shrewsbury, high steward of the whole honor
of Tutbury, in person. The jury were William Rolleston,
Esquire ; Humphrey Minors, William Agard, and Arthur
Whittington, gentlemen, and eleven yeomen. The con-
victions for various forms of vert offences were unusually
numerous at this court, as well as a few cases of pasturing
sheep and cart-horses in the forest. The penalties exacted
amounted to £9 i$s. 4^.
The next woodmote was held at Tutbury on i6th July,
1582, when the fines reached the exceptionally high total of
£22 is. $d. Two or three persons were fined on this occasion
for not taking their pigs out of the forest wards during 'Me
fence monethe."
At the pannage court held at Newborough in November of
this year, the fees for the pigs amounted to 48.?. \\d.
There are several rolls extant of woodmote courts of the
reigns of James I. and Charles I., but they contain nothing of
particular moment.
In 1654 ^e forest of Needwood was offered for sale "for the
satisfaction of the soldiery." The knights, gentlemen, and
other inhabitants of twenty-one of the adjoining villages
and townships thereupon petitioned Oliver Cromwell, point-
ing out the injustice of enclosing the forest area — then reduced
to 5,600 acres, and only worth about $s. an acre — whereby the
old charter rights of many would be lost, and a great number
of ancient cottagers deprived of the relief afforded by the
THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE 143
commons. It was also pointed out that the county of Stafford
had already paid near £8,000 towards the soldiery on their dis-
banding. The last reason offered against the sale was, "That
the forest of Needwood is mearly formed by nature for pleasure,
no forest in England being comparable thereunto."
This petition caused the project of the sale to be abandoned ;
but in 1656 a compromise was arrived at, whereby commis-
sioners were appointed to consider all claims, and in 1658 it
was agreed that half the open forest and one-tenth of the
timber should be allotted to the freeholders, and the remainder
be continued as the property of the State. The project went
so far as to have the respective divisions for the different town-
ships staked out and allotted. But the Restoration intervened
ere the work was accomplished, and Charles II. decided to
preserve the forest in its original state.
It was difficult to suppress the licence engendered during
the time of civil strife. Eventually the duchy authorities over-
reached themselves by attempting to impose a new code of by-
laws of great severity and doubtful legality.
About the year 1680, "the gentlemen, freeholders and others
who have right of Common in the Forest or Chace of Need-
wood " drew up a petition (printed as a broadsheet) to the
House of Commons, protesting against the arbitrary orders of
Earl Stamford, as chancellor of the duchy, recently published,
and asking relief, as their ancient rights and liberties were
being invaded. The chief of these orders were — a fine of IDS.
and forfeiture of cattle bearing a counterfeit mark ; a fine of
£10 apiece to the informer and forfeiture of cattle privately
removed out of the forest after notice of a public drift ; a fine
of 5-r., or 6s. 8d. in the case of a keeper, for conveying grist to
any other mill than the Wood Mill ; a month's imprisonment
for taking any crabtree, whitethorn, holly, or hazel out of the
forest or parks ; 6s. 8d. fine for each beast on any commoner
,or other person foddering cattle in the forest between the
Feast of St. Andrew and the end of March ; the forfeiture of
all swine in the forest save in crab-time, and a like forfeiture
and fine of 3^. 4^. on every swine insufficiently rung ; sheep
pasturing in forest to be forfeited, and i2s. a day fine for each
sheep. These orders and others of a like nature had appeared
under the great seal of the duchy, and had been read in all the
i44 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
parish churches within or about the forest to the great disturb-
ance of the people. The petitioners protested against the
exorbitant character of the fines and forfeitures, the setting up
of informers by great rewards, and the imprisonment of their
persons, claiming that such penalties could not be imposed
save by Act of Parliament.
Notwithstanding, however, the damage done to the forest in
the Civil War, and the little check put upon depredations in the
earlier part of the reign of Charles II., the timber of Needwood
was at this period by far the finest in any English forest. A
careful survey made in 1684 showed that the number of good
trees in the four wards was 38,218, valued at ,£25,744 I9J* 6^. ;
whilst those in the parks brought up the total to 47,150, with
a complete value of £28,637 us. 6d. The hollies and under-
wood were valued at an additional £2,000.
" Many of the treese are of soe large dimensions and length, that
there may be picked out such great quantityes of excellent plank and
other tymber, fitt for shipping, as is not to be found in any of your
majestie's other forests in England ; most parts of this where the best
tymber growes, lyeing within 12 or 14 miles of the navigable parte of
the river Trent."
The abundance of the deer proved an irresistible temptation
to the poorer of the commoners, and though the gentlemen and
yeomen did not exactly turn deer-stealers themselves, as in some
of the southern forests, there was much sympathy with the
poachers, who checked the depredations of the deer, and kept
the country houses illicitly supplied with venison. The parks
leased by the Crown to private individuals were rigorously pro-
tected ; but the open stretches of the forest in the eighteenth
century, though nominally well supplied with high-born officials
and underkeepers or foresters, were, to a great extent, a prey
to marauders.
An undated account of the duchy forests, temp. George I.,
at the Public Record Office, states that Needwood forest had
been granted to William Duke of Devonshire, William Marquis
of Hartington, and Henry Lord Cavendish, with the offices of
steward of the honor, constable of the Castle of Tutbury,
lieutenant of the forest, master of the game, and bailiff of the
new liberties. Castlehay Park had been granted in 1677 for
THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE 145
ninety-nine years to Henry Seymour. The parks of Hanbury
and Tutbury, for a like period, in 1698, to Edward Vernon ;
and two of the other parks at the same, and also for ninety-nine
years, to Sir John Turton.
Mr. Mundy, the poet of Needwood, left it on record that he
had known and conversed with a gentleman of the district,
who had been high-sheriff of Staffordshire in the reign of
George II., who used to boast how many deer poachers he
had got off when arrested by the keepers, and how well they
used to keep his table supplied with venison.
After considerable opposition, Needwood was at last dis-
afforested by special Act of Parliament in 1804. The damage
done to cultivation by the straying deer was no doubt exces-
sive, and there were other distinct drawbacks to its continuance
as a forest. Nevertheless, the general scheme of enclosure
naturally aroused keen resentment among the lovers of its
picturesque beauties and historic associations. Mr. F. N. C.
Mundy, who had printed a stilted poem in 1776, called
Needwood Forest, after the classical descriptive style then in
vogue, produced, in 1808, a wild screed termed The Fall of
Needwood, which, by its very extravagance, caused the utili-
tarian view to be the more appreciated. The following passage
is a fair example of the character and style of its forty-five
pages : —
'Twas Avarice with his harpy claws,
Great Victim ! rent thy guardian laws ;
Loos'd Uproar with his ruffian bands ;
Bade Havoc show his crimson'd hands ;
Grinn'd a coarse smile, as thy last deer
Dropp'd in thy lap a dying1 tear ;
Exulted in his schemes accurst,
When thy pierc'd heart, abandon'd, burst ;
And glozing on the public good,
Insidious demon ! suck'd thy blood.
Detested ever be tfoat day,
Which left thee a defenceless prey !
May never sun its presence cheer !
| O be it blotted from the year !
CANNOCK CHASE
There were two other Staffordshire forests besides Needwood
-Cannock Chase and Kinver, both of which require investi-
146 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
gating. The exigencies of space prohibit more than very brief
references to them in these pages.
Cannock Chase, notwithstanding its name, was an exten-
sive royal forest. It seems to have taken its title from the Bishop
of Lichfield's Chase, fifteen miles in circuit, which was within
the forest limits, and proved a constant source of grievance to
the king's foresters. General Wrottesley has printed the pleas
of the forest of Cannock for 1262, 1271, and 1286, in Vol. V.
of Historical Collections for a History of Staffordshire (1884) ;
they abound in interest as to the venison and vert present-
ments, and the assarts and wastes of woods that came before
the justices at these eyres. A venison offender in 1271 was
pardoned, for the soul of the king, because he was poor
and a minstrel, and two others were respited and forgiven
non-attendance because they were in the Holy Land. One
Thomas de Bromley, a very frequent malefactor of venison,
and often indicted for trespasses in the king's forests in
Staffordshire and Salop, was caught with bow and arrows
in the bailiwick of Teddesley, on Tuesday after the Feast
of St. Gregory, 1267, by Walter de Elmedon, forester-of-fee
of that bailiwick, and Roger de Pecham, riding forester for
the whole forest. The foresters challenged him, whereupon
Thomas climbed up an oak tree and shot arrows at them, until
they took him by force and delivered him to the warden of the
castle of Bridgnorth. There were many presentments at this
eyre for the killing of roe deer.
Hugh de Evesham, a former riding forester, with other ex-
foresters, were presented for stopping all carts passing through
their bailiwicks with salt and other merchandise on the high
roads, taking 4^. at least in the name of cheminage, and for
other carts, I.F., and in some cases 2s. And this was done
when the carts were not laden with timber or brushwood or
anything from the forest, and when the carters were committing
no forest trespass.
In 1276 when the king's huntsmen were hunting in Cannock
Chase, they put up a hart with their dogs and followed it to
Brewood Park. There John de la Wytemore came up with
bow and arrow and shot at it ; the hart fled out of the forest to the
fishpond of the nuns of Brewood. John followed it and dragged
it out dead from the pond. Then John Gyffard, of Chyllynton,
THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE 147
came up, said he had pursued the hart, and claimed the whole
of it. They skinned it ; John Gyffard took half of it, and the
nuns had the other half. This case was brought before the
justices at the eyre of 1286. The nuns were pardoned for
the good of the king's soul, as they were poor. Although
the hart was taken outside the forest, it was the king's chase
and put up by his dogs within the forest, and taken in front of
them against the assize. The sheriff was therefore ordered
to arrest the two Johns ; they were taken and committed to
prison, but released on paying the respective fines of a mark
and 2os. The case of the wolf killing a buck in this forest in
1281 has been already cited.
The Close Rolls of Edward I. give evidence, from the
various royal gifts, of a good supply of fallow deer, with
a smaller number of red deer on the forest or chase of Cannock.
In August, 1277, the king ordered the keeper of Cannock
Forest to permit William de Middleton, Archdeacon of Canter-
bury, to take by his men all the fat harts and bucks that were
fit to kill that season, and to aid and counsel the men in so
doing. In the same month, 1279, the king granted Roger
Mortimer ten bucks and two harts from Cannock. In 1280
Anthony Bek had four bucks, Richard de Tybetot the same
number, and Philip Marmyon three. In 1282, Ralph de
Hengham had six bucks, Henry de Shaventon, Reginald de
Legh, and Otto de Grandi Sono four each, and the Prior of
Stone one, all out of this forest as gifts from the king. Ralph
Basset, of Drayton, had six bucks in 1283. Roger Lestrange,
justice of the forest, was instructed, in July, 1284, to cause the
Bishop of Worcester to have twelve bucks of the king's gift
out of the forest of Cannock ; and in the same year Reginald
de Legh received two bucks. On December 28th, 1284, the
king sent word to Roger Lestrange that if the order given in
the summer for the bucks for the Bishop of Worcester had not
been executed, it was to be changed to six live bucks and six
live does from Cannock, to stock that prelate's park at Alve-
church.
The king was also generous with timber gifts, oaks from
Cannock for building purposes being bestowed on the priory
of St. Thomas, Stafford, the priory of Cokehill, and the
Franciscan friars of Lichfield. When the king was at Bre-
148 THE ROYAL FQRESTS OF ENGLAND
wood in 1278, near Wolverhampton, a fire broke out ; the
justice of the forest was ordered to supply from Can nock four
oaks to Henry le Mercer, of Brewood, Dean of Lichfield,
four oaks to Philip le Clerk, and two oaks to Widow Amice, to
aid in the rebuilding of their lately burnt houses.
KINVER FOREST
The presentments at the Staffordshire eyres in Edward I.'s
reign for the smaller forest of Kinver have also been printed by
General Wrottesley.
The Close Rolls of the same reign contain many references
to the forest of Kinver. In August, 1278, the king instructed
Henry de Ribbeford to cause thirty bucks to be taken
for him in the forests of Kinver and Cannock, as should
be agreed upon between the respective keepers. Grimbald
Pauncefote obtained three Kinver bucks in the same year.
In 1281 four live hinds were granted to Ralph Basset from
Kinver to help to stock his park of Drayton. A further proof
that red as well as fallow roamed over Kinver is the grant
of six harts to Edmund Mortimer in 1286. Two years later
John, the son of Philip, the keeper of Kinver Forest, was
ordered to deliver all eyries of falcons found that year in
the forest to John Corbet, the king's falconer, to be kept for
the king's use.
In 1282 the king ordered the release from prison of Richard
Saladyn, who was in gaol at Bridgnorth for venison trespass.
Bridgnorth was the prison for this forest, as well as for Can-
nock ; the official calendar of these Close Rolls has made the
amusing mistake of putting Saladyn in prison at Bruges, in
Belgium ! Bruges was the usual Latinised form for the town
of Bridgnorth.
Among Edward I.'s timber grants from Kinver were six oaks
to Margery de Wigornia, a nun of St. Wystan, Worcester ;
six oaks to the master of St. Wolfstan's, Worcester ; ten oaks
for fuel to Contisse Loretti, wife of Roger de Clifford, a forest
justice ; and twenty oaks for shingles to Anthony Bek.
The perambulation roll of 1299-1300 shows the considerable
extent of Kinver Forest at that date. Part of Arley, with Ash-
wood and Pensnet Chase, in addition to the parish of Kinver,
THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE 149
were included in the forest, as well as part of Morfe in Shrop-
shire ; but the greater part of Kinver Forest then lay in Wor-
cestershire, for it embraced Pechmore, Hagley, Old Swinford,
Chaddesley, Kidderminster, Wolverley, Churchill, and part
of Feckenham, in addition to Tordebig, in Warwickshire.
Nevertheless, although most of its area was in Worcester-
shire, and its prison in Shropshire, Kinver Forest, taking
its title from the small Staffordshire town of that name, was
always reckoned as a forest of the last of these three shires.
CHAPTER XIV
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK
THE king's forest of the High Peak was a wild district
that formed part of the patrimony of the Anglo-Saxon
kings, and was royal demesne at the time of the Great
Survey. The parish of Hope and other adjacent lands were
granted by the Conqueror in 1068 to William Peverel in con-
junction with numerous lordships in Derbyshire, Nottingham-
shire, and other counties which were known as the honor of
Peverel. On the south side of the Vale of Hope, in a place
of remarkable natural strength, Peverel built a castle, on the
site of a former stronghold, which had given the name of
Castleton to the cluster of houses below it. Twenty years
later the district around is styled the land of Peverel's Castle
in Peak Forest (terrain castelli in Pechefers Willelmi Peurel).
The district of Longdendale was added to the Peverel property
in the time of Henry I. On Peverel's death in 1114, his vast
possessions passed to his son, but in 1155 a younger Peverel
was disinherited for poisoning the Earl of Chester, and all his
estates were forfeited to the Crown. From that time until 1372,
the castle and forest of the Peak were in the hands of the Crown,
when they were transferred to the Duchy of Lancaster, and
thence returned to the Crown by absorption in the following
century.
At the beginning of the twelfth century, the forest of the
Peak included the whole of the north-west corner of the county.
The Hope district embraced the seven berewicks of Aston,
Edale, " Muckedswell," half of Offerton, Shatton, Stoke, and
Tideswell ; whilst Longdendale included the whole of the
wide-spreading parish of Glossop, and much that was extra
'5°
..
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 151
parochial. According to somewhat later parochial divisions,
the forest comprised the whole of the parishes of Glossop,
Chapel-en-le-Frith, Castleton, and Hope, with most of Tides-
well, considerable portions of Bakewell, and part of Hather-
sage.
It formed altogether an area of 40! square miles.
From the time when Longendale was added to the honor of
Peverel, in the days of Henry L, the Peak Forest was divided
into three districts, each having its own set of foresters, but all
under one chief official. These three districts were known as
Campana (i.e. the Champagne, or open country) on the south
and south-west, Longdendale on the north and north-west,
and Hopedale on the east.
The bounds of the forest, as set forth in the Forest Pleas held
in 1286, were as follows, given in an English dress :—
"The metes and bounds of the forest of the Peak begin on the
south at the New Place of Goyt, and thence by the river Goyt as far
as the river Etherow ; and so by the river Etherow to Langley Croft
at Longdenhead ; thence by a certain footpath to the head of Der-
went ; and from the head of Derwent to a place called Mythomstede
(Mytham Bridge) ; and from Mytham Bridge to the river Bradwell ;
and from the river Bradwell as far as a certain place called Hucklow ;
and from Hucklow to the great dell (cavam, cave?) of Hazelbache ;
and from that dell as far as Little Hucklow ; and from Hucklow
to the brook of Tideswell, and so to the river Wye ; and from the
Wye ascending up to Buxton, and so on to the New Place of Goyt."
In the case of a considerable number of forests there was
much variation in their bounds subsequent to 1300 ; but the
limits of Peak Forest remained to its close the same as they
were in the thirteenth century.
The place where the forest justice held his inquisitions was
usually termed the Justice Seat. This Justice Seat was occa-
sionally held in different localities, or even in a temporary
booth or tent, as in the great Northamptonshire forest of
Rockingham ; but the Justice Seat for the Peak Forest was
about the centre of the district, in an extra parochial part, about
equal distance from Castleton, Tideswell, and Bowden. Here
stood a chief forestry residence and hall termed Camera in
foresta regia Pecci, or Camera in Campana, with a chapel
attached. This chapel was of earlier date than the large chapel
152 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
built by the foresters and keepers at Bowden about 1225,
which place was henceforth usually known as Chapel-en-le-
Frith. The Chamber of the Peak was not so important a
place as the central lodge of many other forests, because the
keeper of the Peak Forest being usually associated with the
custody of the castle, the residence of the chief local official
was at Castleton. The prison was at the castle of the Peak,
and the baily of the castle was sometimes made to serve as a
great pound for illegally pastured sheep ; but there is no
instance of the Justice Seat or even a swainmote being held
at Castleton.
There are, unfortunately, too few records left of the smaller
forest courts of the Peak to speak with confidence as to the
regular holding of the frequent attachment courts or swain-
motes in all the bailiwicks for any long period ; but there are
sufficient incidental references to show that such swainmotes
were held in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries for
Campana at the Chamber of the Forest, for Longdendale at
Chapel-en-le-Frith, and for Hopedale at Hope. Subsequently
the greater swainmote courts were held at Tideswell and at
Chapel-en-le-Frith, though sometimes at Campana Lodge or
Chamber of the Forest instead of at Tideswell.
In several of the larger forests, and notably in Peak Forest,
there were hereditary foresters-of-fee. In this case, when the
question of their origin came up at forest pleas, they always
claimed to date back to the times of William Peverel. There
were a certain number — originally four, though afterwards
subdivided — for each of the three great bailiwicks of the Peak
Forest who held certain bovates of land in serjeanty, dis-
charging their obligations in one case by the hunting of wolves
(see chapter iv.), and in the others by some amount of forest
supervision. In two of the three bailiwicks they had sworn
grooms or servants under them. This kind of forestership
could be held by women and by clerks, but the duties had
then to be discharged by deputy. The foresters-of-fee were
bound to attend all courts, even the frequent swainmotes of
their bailiwick, in person or by authorised sworn deputy.
The tenure by which such foresters held their land is made
clear by divers inquisitions after death. Adam Gomfrey,
32 Edward I., died seized of a messuage and fifteen acres at
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 153
Wormhill held per servicium custodiendi pecci forestam.
Walter de Nevil, 34 Edward I., died seized of thirty acres
at Wormhill held per servicium custodiendi forestam. Nicholas
Foljambe, at his death, 13 Edward II., held a messuage and
thirty acres by the serjeanty of keeping the king's forest of
Campana, in the Peak, per corpus suum cum arcu et sagittis.
Thomas Foljambe, 17 Edward II., held fifteen acres at Worm-
hill, by the service of finding a footman with bow and arrows
to keep the Peak Forest. Maria Hansted, n Edward III.,
held land at Blackbrook, Fairfield, Hope, etc. , per custodiendi
•wardam de Hopedale in foresta de Pecco.
On the numerous early incised slabs that are found in
Derbyshire churches in the neighbourhood or within the
bounds of Peak Forest, dating from the time of Henry II. to
Henry III., there are not a few symbols that betoken slabs
which are obviously memorials of forest ministers. The horn
of a forester appears at the base of an incised cross at Darley
Dale, which has a sword on the sinister side. At Wirksworth
is an earlier one, with a belted bugle horn on one side of the
cross, and a sword on the other. At Hope there is a third
early slab with a sword on one side and a belted bugle horn,
with an arrow below it, on the other. In each of these cases
the burial of a forester-of-fee is denoted, the sword (which had
no forest signification) probably denoting knightly rank. At
the unhappy and wholly unnecessary demolition of Hope
chancel another cross slab, with only a stringed bugle-horn on
the dexter side, was also brought to light.
Among the large collection of early incised slabs at Bake-
well is one on which a bow is denoted by a curved line on the
sinister side of the cross-stem, the stem serving as the bow-
string ; a small arrow projects from the string.
A square-headed axe laid athwart the cross-stem appears
on slabs at Chelmorton and Killamarsh, probably denoting a
verderer, or head woodward, or " axe-bearer." The ordinary
woodward, and in some forests the verderer, only bore a small
lopping axe or billhook, and not a felling axe. Such billhooks
appear on early incised slabs at Sutton-in-the-Dale and North
Wingfield.
Examples of the Derbyshire incised slabs to forest ministers
have been illustrated in chapter iii.
154 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
There is a peculiarly interesting brass in Dronfield Church
to Thomas Gomfrey, rector, who died in 1389, and his brother,
Richard Gomfrey, rector of Tatershall. On the brass is a
forester's horn. Thomas was hereditary forester-of-fee ; he
was the great grandson of Adam Gomfrey, forester of Campana
at the eyre of 1286.
The abundance of deer in this forest in Norman days seems
to have been something astonishing. Giraldus Cambrensis
tells us that in his days (iiostris dtedus), c. 1194, the number of
the deer was so great in the Peak district that they trampled
both dogs and men to death in the impetuosity of their
flight.
In the extensive grant of lands and church at Glossop in
Longdendale by Henry II. to the Flintshire abbey of Basing-
werk, the king reserved to himself the venison, but allowed the
abbot's tenants to take hares, foxes, and wolves.
The accounts rendered by Robert de Ashbourn, bailiff of the
forest and castle of the Peak, for the year 1235-6, are of much
interest. The receipts amounted to £201 2s. io^d., whilst the
expenses were £184 12s. yd. In this year the king visited
Peak Castle, when bailiff Ashbourn, as lord of the jurisdic-
tion, presented him with four wild boars and forty-two geese,
and charged 16^. 3\d. for the same in his accounts. The
castle that year underwent considerable repairs. £10 is. 8d.
from the pleas of the hundred or wapentake court were among
the receipts, and we suppose that the sums of £6 igs. ^d. and
^"39 igs. 6d. from the respective itineraries through the
demesnes and forests, represent the fines, etc., accruing re-
spectively from the manorial and the swainmote courts. This
is the earliest known detailed document of the Peak juris-
diction.
Forest pleas were expected to be held at least every seven
years, but the Peak Forest is one of the numerous cases in which
far longer intervals occurred. The forest justices held their
eyre for the Peak in 1216. This was followed by an interval of
thirty-five years, for the next pleas were not held until 1251.
Of these pleas, held before Geoffrey Langley and other jus-
tices, very full records are extant.
The following were the bailiffs of the honor of the Peak
during the period covered by this eyre : William Ferrers,
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 155
Earl of Derby, 1216-22; Brian de Insula, 1222-28; Robert
de Lexington, 1228-33; Ralph Fitz-Nicholas, 1233-34; Jonn
Goband, 1234-37 ; Thomas de Furnival, 1237 (f°r slx
months) ; Warner Engaine, 1237-42 ; John de Grey, 1242-48 ;
and William de Horsenden, 1249. They were appointed by
Crown patents.
The presentment of venison trespasses were made by the
hereditary foresters and the verderers. This roll is headed by
the wholesale charge made against William de Ferrers, Earl
of Derby (who had died in 1246), in conjunction with Ralph de
Beaufoy, of Trusley, William May, the earl's huntsman,
Richard Curzon, of Chaddesden, and Henry de Elton, of
having taken in the king's forest of the Peak, during the six
years when the earl was bailiff (1216-22), upwards of 2,000 head
of game (deer). Ralph, Robert, and Henry appeared, and on
conviction were imprisoned ; but they were released on paying
heavy fines, and finding twelve mainpernors for their good
conduct. Robert Curzon was fined £40 ; the first of his twelve
mainpernors was William Curzon, of Croxall. Ralph Beaufoy
was fined £10 ; the first of his mainpernors was Sir William
de Meysam. May, the huntsman, did not appear ; it was re-
ported he was in Norfolk, and the justices ordered him to be
attached. If the full actual pleadings were extant, there can
be no doubt, judging from the customs of other forests, that
the companions of the earl would have been able to show that
a considerable percentage of the deer taken when he held
office were fee deer, to which he was entitled by usage for
himself and his deputies, and that many others were the usual
and recognised gifts to the country gentlemen of the district
to secure their goodwill towards the king's forest. It must
be remembered that it was always customary at these eyres to
present lists of all the deer killed, including those taken by
express warrant or custom, Nevertheless, there was obviously
something quite unwarrantable in the amount taken during that
period (over 300 a year), as is shown by the heavy fines imposed
upon the hunting comrades of the deceased earl.
Many of the other offenders were men of considerable
position. Thus Thomas Gresley, Alan his brother, Ralph
Hamilton, the Earl of Arundel, and Geoffrey de Nottingham
were convicted of taking three harts and two hinds.
156 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Four or five of these charges, which exceeded one hundred
in number, related to clergy. One of the most important cases
was that of Roger de Weseham, Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield (1245-57). The bishop was charged together with
William the vicar of Glossop, Archdeacon Adam de Staniford,
and five others, all apparently of his company, with taking
a hind in the forest. The bishop was summoned with the rest
to appear before the justices, but the result appears to have
been that the vicar of Glossop was the only one punished ; he
was fined ten marks, and had to find twelve mainpernors. One
of the company was John the clerk, and he was an unknown
monk. Had the pleadings been preserved in full, it would
probably have been shown that the bishop pleaded the forest
charter, whereby it was allowed to any bishop, baron, or earl
to take one or two head of game in passing through a royal
forest, provided it was done openly. The like justification
might possibly have been put forward by several barons whose
names appear as venison trespassers.
Those who were considered responsible for the escape of
prisoners on venison charges from Peak Castle were held
liable at these forest pleas. When John de Grey was bailiff of
the Peak, Martin the shoemaker of Castleton, and another,
were charged with the unwarrantable possession of a deerskin,
and were committed to prison. They escaped, or were liberated
without the intervention of a forest justice, therefore the bailiff
was held in mercy ; the offenders did not appear, and were
outlawed. John Goband, an earlier bailiff, was also held in
mercy for a like offence. Simon de Weyley, who took a stag
during the bailiffship of Robert de Lexington (1228-33),
gave the bailiff five marks to secure his release. Lexington
was dead ; but, on the offence being proved, the justices held
that his heirs were held responsible.
Baron William de Vesci, with four others, was charged with
taking three harts in the forest. One of the company, John de
Andville, was on pilgrimage in the Holy Land at the time of
the eyre, and could not appear. The baron had protested to
the verderers at the time of the charge that he took- the game
by the king's gift ; he brought to the eyre the royal letter and
the charge was withdrawn. In two other cases royal pardons
were produced to the justices.
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 157
The fines imposed for venison trespasses varied at this eyre
from ^zooto 13^. 4^., and seemed to have been proportioned in
accordance with the position of the offender, as well as the
comparative gravity of the offence. The long intervals be-
tween the eyres, and the frequent changes of the forest
custodian, together with the wildriess of the country, seemed
to have led to the Peak Forest being hunted, with a certain
amount of impunity, by not a few of the nobility and gentry
of Derbyshire, and of the adjacent parts of Yorkshire and
Cheshire. The game trespasses at this eyre were entirely for
red deer, save for the single instance of a presentment against
Robert de Wurth for killing a roebuck, for which offence the
huge fine of ,£100 was imposed. The amount of this fine had
nothing to do with the nature of the game, but was caused by
the non-appearance of the accused, accompanied probably by
some aggravating circumstances not recorded on the brief
entry on the plea rolls. At the next pleas (1286) the justices
imposed a like enormous fine of £100 in the case of John Clarel,
who did not appear, on the charge of taking a hart, adding to
the record words which do not elsewhere appear — si placeat
domino rege — as though to mark its exceptional nature.
When the justices at the 1251 pleas came to the considera-
tion of vert offences and encroachments various particulars
were missing. Mathew de Langesdon and Adam de Stanton,
hereditary verderers, were each fined 20^. for not producing
their father's rolls. There seems to have been much careless-
ness among the various officials in the keeping of their respec-
tive yearly lists of offences. Peter del Hurst, regarder of one
section of the Peak Forest, was fined los. for the non-present-
ment of assarts and purprestures in his rolls. A considerable
number of agisters were at the same time declared in mercy
for not producing their agistment rolls according to the custom
and assize of the forest. There is, however, a fairly long list
tof vert offences (about sixty) that had accrued within the Crown
demesnes since 1218, the damage done being in most cases
valued at 6d. Richard de Smallcross, who had been fined 6d.
at the swainmote for the value of a vert offence in the demesne
park, had now to pay a fine of 6s. 8d. and to obtain pledges.
Richard de Redescaye, who had paid a value fine of i2d., was
also fined 6s. 8d. by the justices. The majority of the offenders
158 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
—the offences were probably trifling — had simply to find
pledges for their future observance of the forest assize. Heirs
were held responsible for their father's offences in two or three
cases. Many of these vert trespassers were of good position.
The worst case at this eyre was that of Roger Foljambe, who
was fined the large sum of twenty marks for many transgres-
sions ; his pledges were John Foljambe and Warner Coterell.
In this roll of transgressors the clergy, especially the religious,
were largely represented. The number included the abbots of
Basingwerk, Dieulacres, Lilleshall, Merivale, Roche, and
Welbeck, the prior of Lenton, and William, vicar of Glossop.
The vicar's case must have been a serious one, for the value
payment was ^3 and the fine 40^. Another and much shorter
roll gave the vert offenders within the forest limits but outside
the demesne.
In the first roll of assarts presented at this Peak eyre, on
which twenty-two cases are entered, two of these assarts that
had been made without warrant many years before were taken
into the king's hands ; and in one case, where William the
smith (deceased) had made an assart of three acres without
warrant in the liberty of the abbot of Basingwerk in the days
of Robert de Lexington (1228-33), the then abbot was allowed
to retain it as tenant. It was a dire offence, whether the assart
was within the forest or only in the regard or purlieus, to
enclose with so stout or high a fence that the deer were ex-
cluded. The abbot of Basingwerk, in the time of John de
Grey, was reported as having assarted one and a half acres at
Whitfield without the demesne, and enclosed it so as to prevent
the free roving of the deer and their fawns, and this without
warrant ; at the time when the justices were sitting the fence
had been removed, but it was declared in the hands of the
king. The usual custom in the Peak at this time seems to
have been for the tenant of an assart to pay 4^. an acre to the
Crown, and at the time of the assart being made to pay a fine
to the bailiff for the warrant. In a list of assarts allowed by
Warner Engaine at 4^. an acre, the following are the propor-
tions and the fines in six consecutive cases : i acre, 2$. fine ;
4 acres, 6s. fine ; i acre, 2S. 8d. fine ; 3 acres, 6s. fine ; 2 acres,
4.9. fine ; and 3 acres, 3^. fine. When the tenants of Peak
Forest assarts died, their heirs paid double rent for the first
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 159
year, and the king had also the second best beast, the first
going to the Church. These Peak assarts, which were very
numerous at this date, were for the most part small, averaging
about 5 or 6 acres ; they varied from 60 acres to ^ acre.
The purprestures presented at this eyre were the rolls of new
houses built since the last pleas of 1216. One hundred and
thirty-one persons had built new houses without warrant, and
were therefore in mercy — that is, liable to fines. In almost a
like number of cases, namely, one hundred and twenty-seven,
new houses had been raised within the king's demesnes with
the licence of the bailiff. An average increase of eight new
houses a year during the first thirty-five years of Henry III.'s
reign speaks well as to the degree of prosperity then enjoyed
by the forest of the Peak.
The mineral and turbary rights of this forest also came
under review at this eyre. Earl Ferrers received .£15 during
the six years that he held the Peak bailiwick from the minerals
raised at Tideswell : Brian de Insula, £12, during his five
years ; Robert de Lexington, ,£40 in six years ; Ralph Fitz-
Nicholas, £5 in one year ; John Goband, £7 in three years ;
Warner Engaine, £12 los. in five years ; John de Grey, £15 in
six years ; and William de Horsenden, 50^. per annum. The
minerals raised at Wardlow produced £12 for Earl Ferrers,
£10 for Brian de Insula, £12 for Robert de Lexington, £2 for
Ralph Fitz-Nicholas, £4 for John Goband, £8 los. for Warner
Engaine, .£8 for John de Grey, and 30^. a year for William de
Horsenden. John de Grey took twenty marks of cheminage
or road toll to the mines during his term of office ; but this was
not done by any other bailiff. John de Grey also made certain
stone quarries, from which he received \6d. profit in two years.
Under turbary it is mentioned that the townships of Hucklow,
Tideswell, Wormhill, Toftes, Buxton, Bowden, Aston, and
Thornhill took turves without requiring licence.
Another source of profit to the bailiffs was on escaped cattle :
under this head Earl Ferrers took £12, Brian de Insula ;£io,
Robert de Lexington £12, Kalph Fitz-Nicholas £2, John
Goband £6, Warner Engaine £10, John de Grey £12, and
William de Horsenden £i yearly.
One other fact recorded on the rolls of this eyre remains for
notice : it is with regard to the horse-breeding establishments
160 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
of the forest. The term used for this in the Peak, Needwood,
and other forests is Equitium, for which it does not seem
possible to find any single-word English equivalent, unless it
is stud. The abbot of Welbeck had one stud of twenty horses
and twenty mares in the forest at Cruchell, where King John
had given the canons charter rights. The abbot of Merivale
had kept a stud of sixteen mares with their foals for six years,
to the damage to the king of 2os. The abbot of Basingwerk
had a stud of twenty mares for two years, damage 2os. William
de Roch had seven mares and foals for one year, 20^. Thomas
Foljambe, senior, had seven mares, damage 13^.4^; Thomas
had died and the heirs had to respond.
Bailiff Bernake's accounts of the year 1255-6, already cited
in reference to wolves, are also interesting on account of the
gifts that he made to the Campana Lodge or Chamber of the
Forest. To the chapel he gave a sufficient vestment, an albe,
an amyce, a sufficient rochet, a super-altar, an altar cloth made
out of an old chasuble, a silver chalice gilded inside, and an
old missal and a gradual. To the hall he gave five tables, six
old small shields, and a chessboard ; also two tuns of wine,
one full and the other having a depth of twelve inches. He
also presented various utensils to the kitchen.
On 1 2th July, 1285, the sheriff of Derbyshire was ordered to
cause a regard to be taken of the Peak Forest before Michael-
mas, preparatory to the holding of the forest pleas ; and on ist
August he was further instructed to issue summons of an eyre
for forest pleas, to be held at Derby to all concerned, save
Brother William de Henley, prior to the Hospitallers and
Edmund the king's brother, who were excused attendance.
Thirty-four years had passed by since the last eyre was held.
The pleas of the forest were held at Derby on 3Oth September,
1285, before Roger Lestrange, Peter de Leach, and John Fitz-
Nigel, justices of the forest. The full rolls of this eyre are also
extant at the Public Record Office.
From the rolls then produced we are able to continue the list
of bailiffs from the time of the last eyre. William de Horsen-
den, 1251 ; Ralph Bugg, 1252 ; Ivo de Elynton, 1253 ; Richard
de Vernon, 1254; Gervase de Bernake, 1255; Thomas de
Orreby, 1256 ; Richard le Ragged, 1257 ; William de Findern,
1258; Thomas de Furnival, 1264; Roger Lestrange, 1274;
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 161
Thomas Foljambe, 1277; Thomas de Normanville, 1277;
Thomas de Furnival, 1279 ; Thomas le Ragged, 1280 ; Thomas
Foljambe, 1281 ; and Robert Bozon, 1283.
The Campana foresters-of-fee of that date were John Daniel,
Thomas le Archer, Thomas son of Thomas Foljambe, a minor
in the custody of Thomas de Gretton ; Nicholas Foljambe, who
had been a minor in the custody of Henry de Medue, but was
then of full age ; and Adam Gomfrey. Of these foresters,
Adam Gomfrey and Thomas Foljambe held jointly the same
bovate, which had formerly been divided between two brothers.
Also Thomas Foljambe and John le Wolfhunte held another
bovate in the same way, John holding his half by hereditary
descent, whilst Thomas Foljambe, senior, had acquired his
half by marriage with Katherine, daughter of Hugh de
Mirhaud. This subdivision of serjeanties became burden-
some to the district, as each forester-of-fee endeavoured to have
a servant maintained at the expense of the tenants, but the
jurors confirmed a decision of the hundred court of 1275 to
the effect that there could be only four such servants or officers,
according to ancient custom, for the Campana bailiwick. The
names of the foresters-of-fee for the two other wards are also
set forth.
Although a considerable proportion of the offenders were
dead before the eyre was held, the rolls of venison and vert
trespassers show no fewer than 517 separate charges extending
over the thirty-four years since the last pleas.
The gravest charge at this eyre, as at the last, was against
an Earl of Derby. Robert Earl Ferrers was presented for
having, in 1264, with a great company of knights and other
persons of position, hunted in the Campana forest on 7th July
and taken forty head of deer, and drove another forty out of
the forest ; and on ist August took fifty and drove away about
seventy ; and again on 29th September took forty and drove
away a like number. This hunting was planned on a whole-
sale scale, for thirty-eight are named in the presentment, and
there were many others, as well as the earl himself, who were
dead before the eyre was held, and others not summoned as
they were mere servants of the earl. Eight out of the thirty-
eight were knights, and one, Master Nicholas de Marnham,
rector of Doddington, Lincoln, was in holy orders. Of those
M
162 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND ,
in the earl's train during these three forest affrays hardly any
bore Derbyshire names, but came from the counties of War-
wick, Leicestershire, Lancashire, York, Cambridge, etc. It has
been strangely enough remarked by the only writer who has
hitherto cited these presentments (Mr. Yeatman) that "these
tremendous charges," made long after the earl was dead, "are
utterly incomprehensible," adding that it seems impossible to
suppose that the earl had not full licence from the Crown to
indulge in hunting in the royal forest ! But this writer had
clearly forgotten the date of these forest invasions of the young
and impetuous Earl Ferrers. It was in 1264, in the very thick
of the baronial civil war under Simon de Montfort, of whose
cause Robert Ferrers was a hot partisan. On I2th May was
fought the battle of Lewes, when the king's forces under
Prince Edward (Edward I.) were defeated by those of the
barons. For two or three years from that date, as an old
chronicler has it, "there was grievous perturbation in the
centre of the realm," in which Derbyshire pre-eminently
shared. There can be no doubt whatever that the three incur-
sions made into the Peak Forest in July, August, and Septem-
ber, following the battle of Lewes, were undertaken by Robert
Ferrers and his allies (issuing forth from his great manor-
house of Hartington) much more to show contempt for the
king's forest and preserves and to get booty than for any pur-
poses of sport. These presentments, if they did nothing else,
were a strong protest against the lawlessness of such action.
In April of this year Henry III. had come into Derbyshire
and lodged for a time at the castle of the Peak after the sub-
jection of Nottingham, and it was from here that he proceeded
into Kent and Sussex.
The king's sojourn here before the battle of Lewes is ex-
pressly named in another presentment against Thomas de
Furnival, the great Lord of Sheffield. Thomas, who was that
year bailiff of the Peak, entertained the king at the castle and
tarried there until Whitsuntide. On this occasion, after the
king had left, the bailiff entered the forest and killed twelve
beasts. On various subsequent occasions, both in the reign
of Henry III. and Edward I., venison was killed in this forest
and taken to Thomas de Furnival's castle at Sheffield. Thomas
appeared before the justices, and was convicted and im-
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 163
prisoned, but was subsequently released at the king's pleasure
for a fine of 200 marks.
Edward I. made his chace (facit chaceam suam) in the forest
in 1275. At that time Thomas Fitz-Nicholas and Richard
Fitz-Godfrey of Monyash went into the forest with the king's
hounds and carried off some of the venison to their own
houses. Whereupon William le Wynn, Lord of Monyash,
whose tenants they were, summoned them to his manorial
court, where Thomas was fined 4^. and Richard 6s. 8d. For
this illegal adjudication in case of venison trespass William le
Wynn was presented by the foresters, and the justices fined
him 20-r., and required him to find pledges of future observance
of the assize of the forest.
At a swainmote held at Chapel-en-le-Frith in March, 1280,
William Foljambe appeared before Thomas le Ragged, the
bailiff, and presented that Henry de Medue took a doe with a
certain black greyhound called " Collyng" at Camhead, under-
taking to verify the charge in a penalty of 100 marks ; Henry
denied the charge, and retorted that William Foljambe and
his brother-in-law, Gregory, with the aid of his servants and
shepherds at Martinside, Weston, and Wormhill, had de-
stroyed a hundred head of game, and undertook to prove it
under a like penalty. The jury at the forest pleas found
Henry guilty, and he was fined £5. William and his com-
pany were found not guilty of taking a hundred, but guilty
of taking twenty ; he was fined 20 marks. Collyng was evi-
dently a well-known greyhound ; the name occurs in another
presentment of a different date against Thomas Medue.
In the Peak Forest, as elsewhere, foresters-of-fee, as well
as their servants or under-foresters, were now and again con-
victed of venison trespass. Thus Robert de Milner, at the
time when he was a forester of Longdendale, took over twenty
head of game and carried them to his father's house ; not
. appearing at the eyre, he was outlawed. John Pycard, a
forester under Milner, was also convicted of killing six deer.
Ten other foresters-of-fee were fined during this eyre.
A succession of bailiffs, in addition to Thomas de Furnival,
were convicted of venison or cognate offences, or the improper
release of offenders.
The offences, both of vert and venison trespass and of
164 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
agistment, proved against the large majority of the heredi-
tary foresters-of-fee, and against so many of the highest
position in the district and county, shows that there was very
little moral stigma attached at that time to forest transgres-
sions in the Peak. In no other forest district does there seem
to have been quite so much laxity. This exceptionally bad
feature of the Peak Forest probably arose from the long-con-
tinued state turmoil of so much of the period between the two
eyres of 1250 and 1286 throughout this district, which brought
about great laxity of administration. After these foresters
had been duly convicted and fined for many transgressions,
their respective bailiwicks, because of their poverty, were not
forfeited, but taken into the king's hands to be replevied at
his will when the required fine had been paid. The justices
were authorised to reinstate them in their offices during the
king's pleasure, whilst the fines were being paid, if they saw
just cause, and in several cases the penalties were reduced.
As examples of instances of convictions of men of consider-
able position, the following may be mentioned : Peter de
Gresley, who had to pay £20 for the single offence of killing
a doe in 1268; John lord of Queenbury, Yorks, £20; and
John lord of Shipley, 40^. Other offenders were Sir Stephen
le Waleys, William Bagshawe, and Thomas, Henry, and
William Foljambe.
There were, of course, various venison offences committed
by men in humbler positions, but these seem to have been
quite the exception. Michael, son of Adam de Wormhill, was
presented for having killed fawns (of red deer) in the forest,
and sold their skins in the open market. The justices at this
eyre were merciful, and had regard to poverty in other besides
the foresters-of-fee. Thus Richard de Baslow and Hebbe the
fisherman were in the company of Richard de Vernon, when he
was bailiff at the taking of venison for the king, and appropri-
ated five head of game to themselves. Baslow was fined 20^.,
but Hebbe, who admitted the offence, was afterwards pardoned
through the king's mercy because he was poor.
The vert charges of this eyre, particularly those that deal
with the wholesale damage of the king's woods, charged
against the respective townships, are of special interest, as
enabling us to see in detail that the woodlands were then fairly
FOXES
(FIFTEENTH CENTURY)
DEER IX FOREST
(FIFTEENTH CENTUKY)
WOLVES
(FIFTEENTH CENTUKY)
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 165
numerous, although by far the largest portion of the forest
area was always clear of every kind of timber. The woods
were almost entirely of oak.
Full lists of assarts and purprestures that had occurred since
1261, under the respective bailiffs, were also presented at the
1286 pleas.
As to horses, it was presented that the Queen Consort had a
stud of 115 mares and their foals in Campana, to the great
injury of the forest, but that many had horses and mares in
Campana under cover of their belonging to the queen. Peter de
Shatton, forester-of-fee, had eleven horses and mares feeding in
Campana, whose pasturage was rated at 2s. Nineteen other
foresters had horses or mares in various proportions, all claim-
ing to be part of the queen's stud. They were all ordered to
remove their animals, and had to pay pasturage value, and in
addition, fines varying from is. to 4^., save in the cases
of Adam Gomfrey, John Daniel, and Cecily Foljambe, who
were pardoned.
The ordinary vert rolls for such trespasses during the past
thirty-five years extended to a great length, embracing over 600
cases. The fines were chiefly is., but extended to 2s. 6d., and
in one case to 4^. Two of the offenders, Richard le Hunt and
Walter Bigg, both of Castleton, were excused any fine on the
score of poverty.
The details of the farm stock for the year 1314-15 are
particularly full, especially with regard to the sheep, but space
prevents them being given here.
There are various references to the milking of ewes in the
Peak accounts. It is often forgotten how almost universal
throughout England — but more especially in Essex and the
eastern counties — was the custom of cheese-making from
sheep's milk from the time of Domesday to the days of
Elizabeth. It lingered to a far later date in some districts.
, The milk of ten ewes was considered equivalent to that of
one cow.
The bailiff of the Peak was allowed, within the forest limits,
to keep a limited number of sheep in certain defined places,
and one or two herds of cattle kept, as a rule, within enclosures,
and only occasionally pastured in the open. In later days, as
will be presently seen, when the pasturage was farmed out,
166 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
it became a great temptation to the farmers to increase their
stocks, to the serious detriment of the deer. Temporary
booths or sheds were erected on the great upland pasture
grounds of the forest for the occasional use of the herdsmen
of the vallaries. Particularly was this the case above Edale.
This is the explanation of the term "Booth" not infrequently
found on the Ordnance Survey maps. Near Edale may
be noticed Booth, Barbery Booth, and Upper Booth ; above
Hollinsclough is another Booth ; and elsewhere occur Grinds-
brook Booth, Otterbrook Booth, and Netherbrook Booth. On
the other hand, Oxhey and Cowhey, on Ronksley Moor, Cow-
heys, near Ludworth, and Oxhay, near Eyam, speak of definite
enclosures for cattle.
The ministers' accounts of the Duchy of Lancaster, from the
reign of Richard II. onwards, supply various interesting par-
ticulars as to receipts and expenditure in administering the
affairs of the forest and bailiwick of the High Peak. The
accounts for 1391-2, when Thomas de Wednesley was receiver
and bailiff, include, in addition to rents from towns and wastes,
and payments for a summer and winter herbage, for lead ore,
mills and fisheries, £6 13$. ^d. for passage and stallage and
toll for cows at Chapel-en-le-Frith, 25^. for pannage of pigs,
and 37-s1. 6d. for agistment.
A court (turnus) was held at Tideswell on ist August, 1398,
under Sir John Cokayne as chief steward, when the jury made
presentments as to lands of the abbeys of Basingwerk and
Lilleshall and the priory of Fenton. John de Sale, boothman
(herdsman) of Edale, was presented for receiving two marks
for the sale of wood. Other charges were the enclosing of a
piece of waste at Whitehall bridge, and the making a weir at
Rydale. The foresters also presented several cases of venison
trespass.
The main items of the accounts for 1404-5 closely approxi-
mate to the one just cited, but there is a fresh sub-heading,
namely, " new herbage," for which .£30 was received. This
must refer to some extensive new clearing or assart ; it was at
Stokehill, in the Hopedale ward of the forest, and is described
as formerly pertaining to Welbeck abbey, but then to the
nuns of Derby. This year the perquisites or fines from the
various courts amounted to ^56 us. 2.d. Two small but in-
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 167
teresting items appear in this year's accounts, and are often
subsequently repeated. One is called Broksylver, or brook-
silver, which was a payment made by lead miners who washed
their ore in the torrent (torrens] of Tideswell within the fee ;
the sum for this year was 2os. The other is Wodsylver, or
woodsilver, which was a payment for billets of wood (perhaps
used for smelting) at 4^. a 100 ; this year they numbered 500,
and the payment was is. 8d.
The expenses and salaries of this year amounted to £319 5^.
io^d., which left a balance of £66 i2s. ii%d. A heavy item in
the expenses was the building of a new mill at Maynestonfield,
£12 4-r. id. There were also repairs of the mills at Hayfield
and Castleton, whilst a pair of millstones for 'Beard cost los.
A small item of some interest is 2.d. for a key to the door of
the toll-booth at Chapel.
The accounts for 1435-6 include rents for lands called
"Wynlandes" (spelt " Wynnelandes " and "Wenlandes"
in other accounts). From this and subsequent statements it
appears that the payments or rents for these Wynlands came
from places such as Monyash, Chelmorton, Overhaddon,
Bakewell, Ashover, etc., which were on the verge of the forest,
and sometimes in other hundreds (Wirksworth and Scarsdale)
outside the limits of the High Peak. The word naturally
suggests, to forest students, the Venlands of Dartmoor, which
were the parts adjacent to the moor proper. The Venland
parishes paid a composition to the Duchy of Cornwall to
cover the straying of their cattle and stock over the bounds
into Dartmoor forests. In like manner these Wynland or
Venland districts round the Peak Forest appear to have at
this time paid some due or assigned some rents for a like
reason to the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1439-40 Sir Richard
Vernon (who had been appointed bailiff of the High Peak and
master forester in 1422) enters on the back of his accounts
proper his receipts as bailiff of the lands called Wynnelandes,
which amounted that year to £88 is.
At a later date, this word appears as " Wydelands " and
" Widlands," and once as " Widelands," which may be taken
to signify the lands wide of the forest centre.
In 1440-1, three hundred shingles were provided at a cost
of i6s. 6d. and shingle nails at i8d. for re-roofing the Camera
1 68 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
in campana or Chamber in the Forest. In the following year
the large sum of £7 os. nd. was spent on repairing with
specially cut piles the great pond (stagnum) of the Campana.
This pond still remains.
In 1448-9 Sir Richard Vernon was still bailiff and master
forester. The receipts (including balance) for that year
amounted to .£445 2s. $\d.
Walter Blount was bailiff in 1456-7. The lead ore, together
with the market tolls at Tideswell paid by the Sir Sampson
Meverell, and the farm of the fishery of the Wye, realised
.£14 is. In 1460-1 Walter Blount was still bailiff, but he
was at that date knighted.
Sir William Hastings, Sir John Savage, junr., and Thurston
Allen were the next successive bailiffs.
A singular appointment was made by Henry VII. in March,
1503, to the joint offices of bailiff, receiver, collector, and bar-
master of the High Peak. The person appointed was Thomas
Savage, Archbishop of York ; of course, he only exercised
these not very lucrative offices by deputy ; indeed, the patent
gives him authority to discharge his duties by deputy in the
same way as had been done by his predecessor, Thurston
Allen. At the same time Sir Richard Savage was appointed
constable of Peak, master forester of Peak Forest, and steward
of both castle and forest at a salary of £18 i8s. ^d. a year to be
paid him by his kinsman, the archbishop, as receiver. In
the following year Thomas Babington was appointed sub-
steward.
Three years later the different offices were again reassorted
and to some extent amalgamated, for Sir Henry Vernon, in
November, 1507, was appointed steward, bailiff, and master
forester. In the following January, James Worsley was ap-
pointed " Boweberer infra forestam de Peke " during pleasure.
Among the Belvoir MSS. is the roll of a swainmote held at
Chapel-en-le-Frith, in October, 1497. The foresters made
various presentments of venison trespass. In six cases the
offenders were charged with killing a "cornilu."1
1 This word, though the assistance of some of our ablest philologists has been
asked and courteously given, remains uncertain in its meaning. The probabilities
on the whole favour the idea that it was a local name for some kind of horned
deer. Possibly it may have been the roebuck. Compare leucoryx, the name for a
white antelope.
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 169
An undated complaint, temp. Henry VII., addressed to the
chancellor of the duchy, is of much interest as showing the
power of the deputy steward of the Peak and the use made
of the castle as a prison : —
"To the Right Honorable Sir Reynold Bray, Knyght Chauncelor
of the Duchie of Lancastre.
" Mekly compleanayth unto your good maistership your dayly
orator Richard Hall of Hop that when your said orator came unto
your debite Steward of the high peke John Savage to shew unto hym
howe that on of his servauntes called Randall Lee and oon Thomas
Slake servaunt to Robert Ayer had apeched ather other of fellony as
well for stellyng of horses and mayres as of shep to the entent the
said mysdoers myght have ben ponyshed accordyng unto the kynges
lawes and pore men's goodes in the countre to go in pese by them the
said John Savage not wyllyng to her the trewyth nor to do justice
comyth your said besecher for his seth saying to the Castell of Peke
and ther remaned by the space of iii weks and more and wold not
suffer his wyfe nor other or his frendes to bryng hym mete nor drynke
but caused hym to by it of the Constabill depute to his grete coste
and charge. And on this your said besecher axed Surtes of the pece
as well of the said Randall Lee as of the said Thomas Slake afore
the said John Savage. And he that notwithstandyng suffered them
to departe withoute any Surtes fyndyng to the grete juberdy of the
lyf of your said besecher withoute a Remedy may be had in that
behalfe. And fordermore your said orator offered the said John
Savage Surtes to answer to all men that cold lay anything to his
charge which he refused saying it was your comandement that he
should be comytt to the said Castell and so he was ther withoute
Remedy but that it pleasit your good maistership to comaund the
said John Savage by your wrytyng to suffer hym to go atte large
and to apere afore you atte the octave of seint Martyn and also
to bring up all suche persones as cold lay anythyng against your said
besecher. And on this Robert Savage and Richard Gresham which
is Curte Clarke to the said John Savage syttyng in an Alehouse atte
Hope and uppon non curte day but atte ther owen will amersed your
said besecher in Cs. And for what cause he cane not tell. Besechyng
you atte the reverence of God and in way of Charite the premisses
tenderly concederyd that as well the said indytements as all other
thynges that any man cane lay to his charge may be examined nowe
afore you. And yf he be founde in any defaute he wyll submytt hym
unto your correction and yf he be note That then those that hath
done evyll to hym may be ponnyshed and make hym amends for the
170 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
grete harmys and wronge exacion that they have done to hym
agaynst all right and good concyence and this atte the reverence
of God and in way of Charyte. And your said besecher shall ever
pray to God for the good preservation of your good maistership long
to endure." 1
At the same time, Robert Hollingworth, of Bowden, com-
plained to the chancellor that one John Bromall, a servant
of John Savage's, "a myschiefes man and outlawed for dyvers
murdores and fellones," at Savage's instigation, put out the
complainant from his house and lands which he held of the
king by chief rent, and threatened to kill him if he tried to
claim it. Also that John Shallcross, bailiff of the High Peak,
George Bagshawe, and other servants of Savage's, pulled down
the floors of his house, damaged the walls, carried off divers
"grete arkes and coffers," tables, household furniture, and
other "erlomes." He had sought to obtain redress from John
Savage, but in vain, and was in danger of his life if he ventured
into that part of the country.
Sir John Savage's answer to this charge is filed. It is to the
effect that Hollingworth was attainted of felony, and that
Savage, as steward, thereupon seized the house and land and
transferred the tenancy to Bromall.2
During the reign of Henry VIII. two great courts of attach-
ment for the whole forest were held yearly at Tideswell in
August and October, as well as various smaller courts, of
which many records are extant. At the great courts all the
foresters-of-fee of the three wards had to be present personally
or by deputy. At a great court of attachment held in October,
1515, twelve offenders were fined for lopping trees in the woods
of Ashop and Edale. One of these, John Marshall, was fined the
heavy sum of 6s. &/. ; and another, Edward Barbour, 13^-. 4^.
The entries are very brief, and the aggravating circumstances
concerning these two transgressions are not named.
Smaller courts for the Campana ward were held at Tideswell
on 30th November, 1518, and on 2yth March, 1519. At the
former there were no presentations ; at the latter four vert
transgressors were fined for lopping in the aggregate sum
of i^d.
1 Duchy Depositions, I. H. 10. - Ibid., ioa.
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 171
The names of the foresters attending a great court of attach-
ment for the whole forest, held at Tideswell on October, 1524,
are given in full.
Another great court of attachment was held at Tideswell on
ist August, 1525.
The large number of seventy-four vert offenders were fined
in sums varying from i2d. to zd., yielding a total of 34^. 2d.
Among the offenders were Thomas Pursglove, who was fined
8d. , and Edward Barber, vicar of Hope.
In the midst of this reign, the evil results of letting out
or leasing the herbage of the district, to be farmed by those
who were not forest ministers, became apparent, so far as the
interests of maintaining a deer forest were concerned. The
king, in July, 1526, issued a commission to Sir Thomas
Cokayne and three others to inquire into the overstocking of
"our Forest of the Champion in the High Peak" more than
was ever wont with numbers of " capilles,1 bestes, and
shepe " by Henry Parker, the farmer of the herbage, and
his deputies, insomuch that there was no grass left in the
forest "for our game of dere," and that thereby many of
the deer are like to perish in the coming winter through lack
of meat. The Commissioners were to inquire what number
of cattle and sheep the forest could maintain, and whether
Parker had more than previous farmers ; also as to the number
of the deer, and whether they had decreased under Parker.
The Commissioners met at the Chamber of the Forest, on
1 5th September, and heard the following witnesses; Hugh
Fretham, 30, deposed that there were five herds of cattle within
the forest, whereas aforetime there were but two, and that the
five herds numbered 903 beasts last St. Thomas's Day; that at
the same time there were 4,000 sheep and 16 score "capilles."
Roger Wryght, deputy to George Barlowe, one of the foresters-
of-fee, said that there used to be but two herds, and now five,
and in all other respects confirmed the previous witness.
William Bagshawe, 34, Thomas Bewell, 46, Thomas Bag-
shawe, 26, also confirmed the statement of the first witness.
The Commissioners further reported that they walked through
the forest and saw, that same day, 18 score of red deer, in-
1 Capille, capulle, or capul, is an old English term for a horse, chiefly north
country. It is used in Piers Ploughman and the Canterbury Tales.
172 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
eluding calves ; that many of the deer were in very poor con-
dition, and scarcely likely to live over the coming winter ; that
the grass was much trampled and poor, and that there was
no competent sustenance for them ; that it would be well if
sheep were kept out of the champagne of the forest, as they
used to be (for so they were assured by many persons) ; and
that such action, if enjoined on the farmer and those under
him, would be of the greatest service to the deer.
The attempts made by the chief forest ministers to keep
down the sheep in the interests of the deer brought them into
various conflicts with the tenants, the bolder of whom ventured
to appeal to the chancellor of the duchy.
In 1529, Allen Sutton, of Overhaddon, lodged a complaint, as
one of the duchy tenants, that on 22nd June, about midnight,
one Richard Knolls and William Pycroft, with other evilly
disposed persons, servants of Richard Savage, steward of Peak
Castle, came to a little croft adjoining his house and drove
away seventy of his sheep, and also three of his neighbour's,
and kept them to "this day" within the castle; -and that
he could get no redress from the steward, who maintained
these sheep and declined to restore them. To this bill, William
Pycroft, bailiff of the High Peak, replied that the matter
contained therein was " but feigned, and only intended to put
him to vexation and treble " ; and that if it were true, instead
of being false, Sutton has his remedy at the common law of
the land. To this reply Sutton rejoined that his bill of com-
plaint was good and true in every point, and again prayed for
restitution of his goods.
Henry VIII., on 4th March, 1531, commissioned Sir Ralph
Longford, John Fitzherbert, Thomas Babington, John Agard,
and Ralph Agard, to inquire into diverse complaints made
against Thomas Brown, William Pycroft, Robert Folowe, and
Allen Sutton, for very heinous and seditious matters. Against
Robert Folowe it was alleged that he was outlawed for murder,
as maintained by the Archbishop of York and others, but yet
dwelt in the High Peak ; that felons and murderers were
taken by Folowe and set in the castle of the Peak, and then
for a bribe let go again, of which sixteen examples were
given ; that in two of these cases he received as much as sixty
sheep apiece from two prisoners ; and that he found treasure
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 173
trove to the value of 100 marks and appropriated it. Robert
Folowe, in reply to this bill, filed an answer to the effect
that he could make no reply to the charge of outlawry,
for it was not stated whom he had murdered, nor at what time
or place ; and that he denied seriatim every one of the charges
of releasing prisoners from Peak Castle for bribes, appealing
to God and his country.
In his answer to the bill of articles against him, William
Pycroft denies felling the king's wood in Edale, Ashop, or any
other place, or lopping the same for his cattle or fire, or killing
the king's deer in the forest of the High Peak. He further
stated that he had for some time held the office of bow-bearer
of the forest, and through the due discharge of his office had
incurred the malice of certain persons, and he explicitly denied
that he had ever set under him any who had destroyed the
king's woods or hurt the king's deer.
Robert Folowe was at this time bailiff of the hundred of
the High Peak, and acted as deputy to Richard Savage, the
steward of Peak Castle, under Sir George Savage, the
custodian. Another charge against Folowe was that he had
"withdrawn and taken out of the Castell " and appropriated
to his own use much furniture, such as tables, forms, bed-
steads, lead and iron vessels, and even "iiij wyndoose." Some
of the evidence taken on behalf of Pycroft before the com-
mission is extant, but the finding of the Commissioners is
lacking.
A great court of attachment was held at the Campana lodge
on 1 3th November, 1542. The new forester, Francis, Earl of
Shrewsbury, who had succeeded to the confiscated office of the
abbot of Basingwerk, was represented by Thomas Johnson.
Reginald Pursglove was fined 6d. for lopping green trees, and
there were twenty-nine other like offenders. The total of the
day's fines was 14.?. lod.
A great court of attachment and swainmote for the High
Peak was held at Tideswell on 3oth October, 1559. Hugh
Needham, Edward Eyre, and George Woodruff were the
foresters who appeared in person ; the rest all sent deputies.
Twenty-four offenders were fined for lopping trees and carrying
off undergrowth in Ashop wood. The first two names were
Robert and Lawrence Pursglove. At another like court, held
174 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
at the same place on 2nd May, 1567, twenty-one persons were
fined for similar offences.
The disputes as to the respective rights of deer and sheep
became more intensified during the reign of Elizabeth. In 1561
Stephen Bagott, of Hilton, Staffordshire, gentleman, occupier
of the "Champyon of the Quenes majesties forest of the Peake,"
by lease under Edward Lord Hastings, of Loughborough, the
queen's farmer, complained to the chancellor (Sir Ambrose
Cave) that George Blackwell, Thomas Bagshawe, and other
servants of George Earl of Shrewsbury (Justice in Eyre of
the Forest and High Steward of the Honor of Tutbury),
claimed, as foresters, to have rights of herbage, pasture,
turbary, and feeding for deer over the Champyon, which was
a part of the forest, "a verie barren country of wood or tyn-
sell,"1 contrary to all ancient usage. Blackwell and the other
foresters, with their servants to the number of nineteen persons,
were definitely charged with having on Monday in Easter week,
4 and 5 Philip and Mary, violently and by force of arms taken
400 wethers and 400 ewes, some with lambs, feeding on the
Champyon, and impounded them within the castle of the Peak,
and kept them there till the following Friday without either
meat or water, by reason of which impounding divers of the
wethers, ewes, and lambs died, causing damage to Bagott of
£20 or more.
A further petition of the same Stephen Bagott complained
that, in spite of the orders of the court, Robert Eyre and
other foresters continued to molest the horses, mares, colts,
and sheep feeding on the Champyon and to impound them in
Peak Castle, especially last Easter, with the result of the loss
of 500 sheep, in addition to the payment of heavy impounding
fees.
The defendants filed a reply to the effect that they were the
servants of the Earl of Shrewsbury, Justice in Eyre and
High Steward of the Honor of Tutbury, of which the cham-
pagne of Peak Forest was a parcel ; that this champagne was
' 'the principall parte of the seid forest wherein the Quenes
majesties deer hath their onlye feedinge and sustenaunce " ;
that the earl, riding through the forest on the last 4th
of March, perceived a great number of sheep depastur-
1 Tynsell, or tinsel, was small dry wood, such as was collected for heating" ovens.
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 175
ing on the champagne " wherebye the feedinge for the seid
dere is utterlye consumed, and therebye allso the said deare
forced to flee out of the seid forest for their relyfe whereas
they be killed and destroyed," commanded Robert Eyre
to drive these sheep to the castle of the Peak ; that this
order was carried out without killing, destroying, or hurting
any of the shefcp ; that the sheep were only impounded for half
an hour, by which time Bagott's shepherd and the other
owners claimed the same, paying, according to ancient custom,
a penny for every score.
Humphrey Barley, William Needham, Thomas Bagshawe,
and William Bagshawe, yeomen and foresters-of-fee, who had
" charge custodye and looking unto of all the Quenes Majesties
games of warren and especially hir game of Redd deare within
the same forrest, and to answere for the defaults and negligent
kepinge of the same game of dere yf the same should be
ympeyned and destroyed," reported in 1567 " that the game of
redd deare in this the forest hath bene much decayed about
twoe yeares last past by reason of two extreme wynters in the
same yeares, and that through the extremetie of the wether
specyallye frost and snowe having no browse to helpe the same
dere, for that ytt ys a champion and playne place wherein no
wood groweth, manye of the said deare be dead and manye
of them be strayed into other foorests and places adjoynyng
and are not herto retorned nor to be recovered so that there
remayneth not of rede deere in the said forrest of all sortes
eyther fallow male or rascall above the nomber of xxx dere
in all." In consequence of this the foresters sent in this
statement lest they should be accused of negligence, and prayed
the chancellor (Sir Ralph Sadler) that a restraint may be had
in hunting or slaying the game by any warrant whatsoever for
six years, until the red deer be replenished to their former
number, which was about 360, and to signify the same re-
straint to the Earl of Shrewsbury, the queen's master of the
game of Peak Forest.
A court of attachment held at Tideswell on 22nd October,
1566, and fourteen vert offenders were fined, bringing in the
aggregate sum of 4^. zd. At the next court, held 28th April,
1567, los. 2d. was the total of the fines.
In June, 1561 the queen issued a commission of inquiry as to
176 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the condition of Peak Castle and Forest. So far as related to
the latter, the Commissioners were instructed —
"To view the heighte of one wall erected and made in or about
one parcell of one pasture called the Champion within our saide
foreste, how brode and depe the Dike in and about the same wall is,
whether the same dike be drye or standings with water for the most
parte of the yere, and whether the deare maye easlye enter in and
owte to and fro the said pasture notwithstanding^ the said walle and
dike, and whether the same wall and dyke be noisome or hurtefull to
or for our deare and game there, and to thinderance of the grasse for
our said deare, or be better for the cherisshinge of our said game and
deare there or not."
They were also to report on the rights of pasturage for beasts
and cattle prevailing in the forest; whether the foresters "do
diligently use and keepe their walkes aboute the said Foreste,"
or whether they use any part of the fines raised at swainmotes for
their own purposes; what oxgangs they (the foresters) hold, and
what cattle they pasture ; whether they use their own authority
for excusing trespassers; and whether the pasturing of sheep
is not very hurtful to the deer.
One of the main results of this commission was that the
Castle of the Peak was spared for a time from demolition, and
was put into a certain kind of repair, mainly to enable it to
serve as a forest prison ; but about the year 1585 the buildings
suffered severely from fire. In June, 1589, the queen issued
a further commission to William Agard, "our particular
receiver of the honor of Tutburie," and another, reciting that
the castle had "by mischance within these five yeres been
burned, and by reason thereof become ruinous and decayed
that it standeth void of any use . . . wherebefore yt was
usuallie frequented and used for a prison for offenders there."
The commissioners were directed to repair to the castle without
delay, calling to them such artificers and workmen as they
thought necessary, and to view all the decayed places, and to
report how far it would serve to be made a prison again, and
what it would cost to be repaired, and in that event what would
the castle and site be worth to be let by the year.
It was about this time that George Earl of Shrewsbury (he
had been taken again into favour by the queen in his old age
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 177
in 1587; he died in 1590), was permitted to purchase part of the
Longdendale district of the Peak Forest, which was formally
disafforested for the purpose. At this date a large quaint map
of the whole forest was prepared, showing great parallelograms
painted vermilion where there were pasturage rights, and out-
line pictures of the towns. This big map was at some unknown
date cut up into sections ; a part of it is missing, but the three
main portions are preserved at the Public Record Office. On
the Ashop and Edale section of the forest, five contiguous
great patches of vermilion are shown, and by them is written,
11 The Queenes Majestys farmes are divided into five vacaries."
Near Glossop it is stated on the map that the greater part of
the forest there was then held by the Earl of Shrewsbury.
A rectangular patch, more to the west of the Longdendale
division, is described: "The herbage of Chynly otherwise
called Maidstonfeld, God. Bradshawe and others farmes."
Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, was appointed chief-
justice in eyre of the forests north of the Trent by James I. in
1603, an office that gave him oversight of the game. The earl,
writing to his uncle, Sir John Manners, from Sheffield Lodge,
on 4th July, 1609, says: "I have sent you a note to Mr. Tunsted
for a stag in the Peak Forest, but I doubt if there are any fat
enough so early in the year." In June, 1610, the Council sent
a letter to the earl, as justice in eyre beyond Trent, to prohibit
the inhabitants and borderers of the forests of the Peak from
destroying moor fowl and heath poults.
Among memoranda of business to be submitted to the
Council in June, 1626, occurs a petition from Francis Tunsted,
who held a pension of £50 per annum as bow-bearer in the
High Peak and keeper of the moor game; but the pension had
not been paid for the last year, and he sought the king's order
for its payment and continuance.
On 2Oth February, 1639, a warrant was issued to the chan-
cellor of the duchy to appoint fit persons to treat and compound
with the freeholders, tenants, and commoner of wastes and com-
mons belonging to the hundred and forest of High Peak, for
granting the king's right and interest of soil. Just a year later
a further warrant was issued to the chancellor to compound for
disafforesting all lands of the king's within the honor and
forest of the Peak.
178 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
A large proportion of the duchy documents of the latter
half of Charles I. 's reign are missing, but from a much later
document we are fortunately able to give the true account of
this disafforesting process for the first time, and thus to correct
a variety of contradictory and erroneous statements that have
hitherto been put forth on the subject.
In 1772 an inquiry was made as to the state of the king's
title to timber, mines, and coal within the disafforested forest
of the High Peak. The outline history of the forest is correctly
given in that report.
In 1635 tne landowners and inhabitants within the forest
petitioned the king, complaining of the severity, trouble, and
rigour of the forest laws, and praying that the deer (which
were in sufficient numbers to do considerable damage to crops
in the forest and its purlieus) might be destroyed, and asking
to be allowed to compound by enclosing and improving the
same. Thereupon the king issued a commission of inquiry
under the duchy seal, and directed that two juries should
be impanelled, appointing a surveyor to assist them. The
first jury viewed the whole forest and its purlieus, and presented
that the king might improve and enclose one moiety in con-
sideration of his rights, and that the other moiety should be
enclosed by the tenants, commoners, and freeholders. The
other jury was impanelled to consider the question of the
towns within the purlieus, and they presented that the king, in
view of the largeness of the commons belonging to the towns
of Chelmorton, Flagg, Teddington, and Priestcliffe, might
reasonably have for improvement and enclosure one-third, and
the remaining two-thirds for the commoners and freeholders.
Both Crown and inhabitants were well pleased with the result.
The commons were measured, and surveys made that divided
the lands into three sorts— best, middle, and worst — and the
king's share was staked, and maps showing the results were
drafted. The surveys were not completed until 1640, and
all the preliminaries having been adjusted, the king caused all
the deer to be destroyed or removed, and since that date the
report expressly states that there were never any deer whatever
within the High Peak Forest. The extirpation of the deer
was almost immediately followed by the beginning of "the
troublous times" that preceded the actual outbreak of the Civil
THE FOREST OF THE HIGH PEAK 179
War, and hence further proceedings came for a time to an
end.
Throughout the Commonwealth, though it had lost its deer,
and though the forest laws were upset, the Peak Forest
remained as hitherto, and no enclosures were carried out.
"A Survey of the Mannor and Lordship or Liberty of the
High Peake with the rights, members, and appurtenances
thereof lyeing and being in the county of Derby, late parcell
of possessions of Charles Stuart, late King of England in right
of the Honor of Tutbury, parcell of his Duchy of Lancaster,"
was taken by order of Parliament in July, 1650.
The Commissioners reported that the chief rents due from
freeholders, "holding by Harryott Service and paying Harryott
and holding in free Socage," amounted to ^72 i2s. 2\d. ;
chief rents from freeholders, " not Harryottable," £5 17^. id. ;
rents of assize from copyholders, £3 14$-. 7^. ; profits of tolls
of four fairs at Chapel-en-le-Frith (on Ascension Day, Thurs-
day after Trinity Sunday, 7th of July, and Thursday after
Michaelmas Day), with the passage and stallage of these fairs,
and also the passage and through toll levied on packs and
carriages passing at Hayfield and Whaley Bridge, .£7 ; per-
quisites and profits of Court Leets and Court Barons, £24 ;
waifs, strays, and felons' goods and deodands, £5 ; fisheries,
2os. ; fowlings, hawkings, and huntings, 2os.
They further reported that King Charles, in February, 1636,
had demised to Walter Vernon all perquisites and amerce-
ments of two court leets and fifteen small courts to be held
yearly, and all heriots and reliefs for thirty-one years at a
rental of £10.
An additional report was made in July 1652, " of all such
Remaine of Rents now unsold belonging to ye manner Lord-
ship Liberty and Hundred of ye High Peake alias the Wapen-
take of ye High Peake . . . commonly called Cheife Rents
money, palfry money, Turbary money, Common Fine silver,
& Tything silver." These rents were estimated at £15 6s. *]d.
a year ; they were proportionate payments from the various
townships. A simple payment for palfrey money is entered
against all the townships ; such are Whitfield and Chisworth,
is. io^d. ; Hayfield and Dinting, is. ^d. ; Tideswell, 2s. 6d. ;
and Hassop, 5^. In addition, Tideswell paid 5^. ; Haslebache,
i8o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
zs. 6d. ; and Litton and Ward low, each 3-r. 4^. for turbary ;
whilst Little Hucklow stands alone with i s. for common silver.
The Parliamentary trustees had sold the forest rights named in
the previous report to " Capt. David Hurdum, trustee on the
behalf of Colonel Hughson's Regiment."
It was not until 1674 that the project for disafforesting the
Peak Forest, and enclosing the cultivatable or good pasturing
portions was completed. The Commissioners appointed for
the purpose were Sir John Cassy, Sir John Gell, and fifteen
others, including such well-known Peak names as Bagshaw,
Eyre, and Shalcross.
CHAPTER XV
DUFFIELD FRITH
DUFFIELD FRITH, or forest, was the name of a con-
siderable expanse of forest land a few miles to the north
of the county town. Though one of the smaller of the
royal forests, it had a circuit of somewhat over thirty miles,
even in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when it had undergone
considerable reduction.
Henry de Ferrers, one of the chief favourites of the
Conqueror, held no fewer than 1 14 manors or lordships in
Derbyshire, at the time of the Domesday Survey, as well as
many others on the borders of the shire. Duffield, on the
Derwent, at the entrance of the valley that gave access to
the lead mines of Wirksworth, made an admirable centre
for the controlling government of the great Norman baron.
Here, on a site formerly used both by Romans and Saxons,
he erected a most massive fortress, which was demolished
temp. Henry III., in consequence of the rebellion of his
descendant, Robert Earl Ferrers.
From the time when the forfeited Ferrers' estates were con-
firmed by the Crown on Edmund Earl of Lancaster, Duffield
and Duffield Frith became part of the honor of Tutbury,
and formed a valuable section of the property of the earldom,
afterwards the Duchy of Lancaster. The frith was not a true
royal forest until Henry Duke of Lancaster came to the
throne as Henry IV. in 1399. It had, however, been techni-
cally ruled as a royal forest for more than a century before
that date; for Edward I., at the beginning of his reign,
granted his brother Edmund the right of having justices of
the forest, whenever the king appointed such for his own
forests, and also granted him and his heirs of the earldom
181
182 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the fines and ransoms that might accrue from the holding
of the eyre. After the destruction of Duffield Castle, the
castle of Tutbury became the centre of the forest jurisdiction
of Duffield Frith and the prison for venison trespassers.
Such history as can be given of this forest is very meagre
for the earlier period ; but at a later date, when the earlier
HUNTING COSTUME. THIRTEENTH CENTURY. (See pp. 64-5. )
forest legislation was in many respects falling into desuetude,
the records of the attachment or swainmote courts — almost
invariably termed woodmotes in this forest — as well as par-
ticulars as to its customs are unusually full and interesting.
They offer considerable contrast in many respects to the
records of the Peak Forest. In the Peak the deer, save for
a few fallow "chance" deer or strays, and some roe deer in
its earlier days, was exclusively red ; in Duffield Frith, on
the other hand, the deer were exclusively fallow. In the
DUFFIELD FRITH 183
wild Peak district the bounds of the forest were only known
from encircling rivers or streams, or from boundary stones
and crosses ; and there was but one kind of park, namely,
the great stone enclosure of Champion or Campana. Con-
trariwise, Duffield Forest had pales all round it, which the
adjacent tenants were bound to keep in repair, and it abounded
in a number of separately paled and specially preserved parks.
The Peak Forest was never in any way wooded throughout
by far the larger part of its area ; but Duffield was wooded
almost everywhere when first it came into the hands of the
Ferrers. Nevertheless, in the stonier stretches of parts of
Duffield and Colebrook wards there must have been much
that was always thinly covered with undergrowth, whilst a
considerable part of the area had no resemblance to what is
now understood as forest by the time that it became part
of the earldom of Lancaster.
The singularly full accounts of the opening years of
Edward II. show that Duffield Frith not only included within
its area a great number of parks, which were the special
homes of the deer — though the park fences, whilst excluding
cattle, etc., permitted them to wander at will through other
parts of the forest — but also cow pastures, small sheep walks,
coal mines, and iron forges.
As to the parks, they were thus distributed in the time of
Edward I., and remained so (save for the speedily extinguished
Champagne park) until the seventeenth century. Ravensdale
(where was the central lodge or manor house of the whole
forest) and Mansell parks, in Hulland ward ; Champagne,
Postern, and part of Shottle park, in Duffield ward ; Milnhay
(not always reckoned as a park, but separately paled) and the
larger part of Shottle park, in Colebrook ward ; and Lady
or Little Helper and Morley parks, in Helper ward.
In an account of Helper ward for 1272-3 occurs the earliest
known mention of the chapel adjoining the Helper manor
house, which was expressly founded for the use of the foresters.
John, the chaplain who celebrated at that chapel, held 7 acres
and i rood of demesne land in Fishyard, in lieu of rent of
nine cottages built on 3 acres of land that had been previously
granted to the Helper chaplain.
At a Helper woodmote court of 1304, various offenders pre-
1 84 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
sented by the foresters paid i2d. as fines for suffering foals and
mares to wander in the ward, and smaller fines for plough-
cattle and sheep. At a Duffield ward woodmote of the same
year, several vert trespassers were presented for carrying off
loads of green oak and of whitethorn.
The accounts of Duffield Forest, as returned to the duchy
receiver-general, from Michaelmas, 1313, to Michaelmas,
1314, are exceptionally full and detailed.
For Belper ward William de Simondsley was the receiver,
and his receipts, including arrears from previous years of over
£8, amounted to £109 us. n^d. Six score hens were sold for
i$s. to supply the lord's table at Donnington, and 3-r. 4^. was
obtained elsewhere for another score. The winter agistment
of plough-cattle throughout the ward realised 7^. ud., and the
summer agistment £4 is. ^d. The summer agistment fees
for Morley park were $is. , and the herbage of a close near the
park gate sold for i2d. There were no receipts that year from
the little park of Belper. Thirty-four acres of meadow at
Belper laund realised 33^. 2d. Not more than twelve acres
were mown there for the coming of the lord to Belper ; that
was, we suppose, to supply the horses of his retinue with
fodder. Twenty acres were mown there for storage for the
lord at the deer-house, and twenty acres more for a like
purpose (i.e. for winter food for the deer) at Bullsmore.
Twenty-three acres of meadow grass in Morley park were
sold for i8s. \\d., and the residue was cut and stored for the
lord. The fishing of the Derwent was let for 5^., and ^s.
was paid by fowlers for licence to catch birds in the ward.
There was no honey or wax entered for the year. Wood and
bark sales realised 19^. An unclaimed stray ox was sold for
8s. , while 6d. was paid to redeem a stray calf, and 2s. to
redeem two stirks. The large sum of £13 los. was obtained
for getting coal at " Denebyhuyrum." The ward woodmote
fines and court fees brought in ,£4 $s. lod. But far the largest
receipts of this ward were for the forges or smithies, for Belper,
as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, had a
considerable sale for nails. One forge that was at work for
eleven weeks, save four days from Michaelmas to St. Thomas
the Apostle's Day, paid a farm rent or royalty of £j 8s. io%d. ;
whilst two forges that were working twenty-four weeks, save
DUFFIELD FRITH 185
four days, namely, from the Purification to Michaelmas,
brought in .£63 6s. 8d. It was, doubtless, the presence of coal
near the surface round Belper (which was not exhausted till
near the end of the eighteenth century) that brought the trade
in wrought iron to this part of the forest.
The first item of expenditure entered is 3^. 2d. for Duffield
rectorial tithes on the herbage of Morley park, and of a close
there. A particularly interesting customary payment, denoting
the risk incurred in traversing the roads of Duffield Forest, is
8s. for warding the road of the Cross (via de la rode) on Derby
market days, a duty that devolved on the forest officials. The
sum of 39-$-. \\\d. was spent in making 482 pales for the new
fencing of Morley park and Belper laund, and 26s. *j\d. in
repairing and re-erecting 384 broken or prostrate pales in the
same fences. The man who worked for sixty-three days in
mending the broken and defective pales, received $s. 3^., or a
wage of id. a day. The sum of $s. 6d. was paid for strewing
the deer-browse or loppings in the winter through the ward
and in the little park. Thatching the roof of the great larder
for the salted venison, adjoining Belper manor house, cost 2s.,
while 26s. was paid for the salt required that year in the larder.
Fourpence was the small sum paid for measuring the pasturage
within and without the park. The sum of ,£90 'js. 8%d. of the
receipts was handed over to Nicholas de Shipley through ten
tallies. At the end of the year the receiver still owed to the
earl £8 os. 6d.
Of Duffield ward Ralph le Corviser was the receiver ; his
receipts, including arrears, were £20 i8s. yd. The first entry
among the receipts is i2S. gd. for 102 hens sold for the lord's
table, and i2d. for six hens sold elsewhere. The winter and
summer agistment throughout the ward, including the parks
of Shottle and Postern and the herbage of "Muxelclif" and
Longley, produced no monetary return, for it was all pastured
or mown for the lord. The pannage of swine from two persons
outside the ward brought in 2S. ; the fishing of the Ecclesburn,
\2d. ; the fishery of the Derwent, $d. ; the sale of wood, bark,
and deer-browse, 315. 8d. ; the licensing of fowlers, 2S. ; and
the woodmote fees and fines, 34^. 2d. The receiver of this
ward also accounted for £41 6s. 2^., paid in pannage pence for
swine throughout the whole forest, deducting the tithes of the
1 86 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
same payable to the prior of Tutbury, and 55^. for the pannage
of small pigs. The outgoings show that this ward, like that
of Helper, also paid 8s. a year for guarding the road of the
Cross on Derby market days.
The heaviest outgoing was the aggregate sum of £3 2s. i \\d.
for renewing and repairing the pale fences and clearing the
dykes, particularly round Shottle Park ; 4?. $\d. was also paid
for new fencing within that park by the side of the Ecclesburn
to protect the meadow land there, and \^d. for making a water
gate. There were further small sums for park gates, and for
mending a bridge and for the carriage of the timber for these
various purposes. The sum of 2s. qd. was paid for strewing
deer-browse in the winter. A pinfold was removed from
Hazelwood and carried to Shottle at the small charge of 6d.
The most interesting outlay in the accounts of this ward is the
expenditure of the sum of 6^. 8d. on mending the road be-
tween the parks of Shottle and Postern for the carriage of
coal to the lord's forge, which stood, as we learn from other
accounts, on the further side of the Ecclesburn, just beyond
Cowhouse Lane. The expenses of the foresters and others in
connection with the pannage amounted to 17.?. &£., whilst
149. ^d. was paid to the clerks of the master forester and the
attorney of the prior of Tutbury and the foresters at the
pannage court.
Of Colebrook ward, John FitzRalph was the receiver, and
his receipts for the year, including the recovery of the large
amount of £36 gs. io\d. of arrears, came to £70 13^. 6\d.
The agistment of Milnhay produced $is. io\d., and of Shottle
park (most of which was in this ward) £15 ids. yd. The
herbage of Schymeed (Shining Cliff) brought in ifs. The
townships of Alderwasley, Colebrook, Ashleyhay, Hulland,
Newbiggin, and Idridgehay paid a composition of 4^., prob-
ably as an acknowledgment from the "outlands" parks. The
fishery of the Ecclesburn produced nothing that year, but 6d.
was paid for the Derwent fishery rights of this ward. Henry
del Hay paid 2$. as composition with the lord's tenants within
the forest. Licences for fowlers in this ward and in Shottle
produced 4^. The sale of wood, bark, and boughs realised
17-r. 6d. Following this comes an entry that seems to imply
an occasional sale of thick oak bark, or cork, for some specific
DUFFIELD FRITH 187
use. The entry runs, De cork nil hoc anno. The word " cork "
is derived from the Latin cortex. Reference has already been
made to the maple bowls from this ward.
The outgoings begin with a like entry of 8^. to the two
wards already mentioned for warding the road of the Cross on
Derby market days. The paler for this road and Shottle park
received an annual stipend of 5-r. for repairs, and in addi-
tion he received this year icw. lod. for the making of
new pales. The strewing of the deer-browse in the severe
weather cost 7^. $d. The considerable sum of 40^. was paid
to Peter Bulners for carrying a letter of Lord Robert de
Holand directed to the receiver at Tutbury. From the sum-
mary at the end of the ward accounts, it seems that the
receiver of Colebrook had in hand the great sum of £40 is. i id.
for the sale of bowl* wood for that and the two preceding
years, and that he sought instructions how he was to allo-
cate it.
Of the ward of Hulland, John Hulleson was the ward re-
ceiver; the receipts for the year, including 66s. 8^d. of arrears,
amounted to £29 7.?. z\d. The agistment of the two parks of
this ward — Mansell and Ravensdale — realised the respective
sums of 35-r. 3d. and 36$. lod. The sale of wood, bark and
boughs produced £17 13^. 4^. ; 2Od. was received in fines for
two stray colts, $s. for the sale of a waif, and £4 is. nd. as
court fees of the woodmotes. There is an entry of 2s. under
the head of cheminage ; the wayleave in this case was prob-
ably for some exceptional transit during the fence month.
The exceptional entry for this ward is 4-$-. 6d. for " ix. coks-
chutes."
The outgoings of this ward begin with the entry of 4^. for
warding the Corkley road (via de CorkelegJi) on Derby market
days. Corkley is the name still borne by an isolated farm-
house about a mile south of Turnditch, on the margin of
Hulland ward. The yearly wage of the keeper of Ravens-
dale park amounted to 63$. 8d. Within this park stood the
chief lodge of DufHeld Frith, which was the hunting seat of
the earls and dukes of Lancaster when in this part of their
estates, and which was occasionally honoured by the presence
of royalty. Very considerable repairs were done to the lodge
and park of Ravensdale during this year. The small sum of
i88 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
"js. 6d. was paid for preparing i53OO shingles (cendulce) and 200
boards for roofing the different parts of the manor house ; the
timber itself would, of course, be provided out of the forest.
Painted glass for the windows of the manor chapel only cost
i6s., but i8d. was also paid for buying iron and making it into
bars for the support of these windows. The renewing of the
park pales of Ravensdale and repairing and setting up the
old ones cost ijs. 3^d., whilst 4^. 4^. was spent over the park
gates towards Corkley and at " Schakesdon." The making
good of eighty-five new pales, and the repairing of upwards
of 600 old pales of Mansell park, cost £3 los. nd. A new
hedge for part of the same park toward Pintclifford cost
13^., and 2s. was spent in mending the deer-leap towards
Hough.
Under the head of Venatio de Duffeld Frith, full particulars
are given of all the venison taken in the forest, and its disposal.
The grand total for the year was : one hart, ninety-six bucks,
and twenty-five does.
The stock of the forest is next set forth under the heading
Instaur' de Duffeld. The account is rendered by Robert Frely
and Nicholas Fitz-Giles, the stockmen (instauratores} of Duf-
field. The sale of thirty-two of the lord's oxen realised
,£23 3>r. 4^., an exceptionally good price. A bull and sixteen
cows in calf sold for £g 13$. The skins and flesh of four
cows, the skins of six cows, the skins and flesh of four steers,
and the skins of twenty-seven calves sold for 44^. gd. The
milk of eighty-eight cows brought in £g 2s. 6d. There were
but few sheep on the outskirts of the forest ; the ewes were
milked, but the sheep account was annexed to that of Hart-
ington. The rest of the receipts came from mowing and
carrying the hay of two tenants.
The payments included 30-$-. 2d. in wages for those who
looked after the cattle and calves in Postern park ; 36^. ^d. for
mowing, and i8s. 2d. for haymaking and carrying the hay of
eighty-seven acres in the same park ; and 2is. 6d. for carrying
105 loads of hay from Longley Meadows, Postern park, Mor-
ley park, and Bullsmoor to the cowhouses of Postern and
Belper. The sum of 3^. 8d. was paid for stubbing up two
acres of waste, and hedging it in for the sustenance of calves
and colts, and 3^. 2d. for two quarters of oats for sowing the
DUFFIELD FRITH 189
same. The dairy at Postern had i6s. 8s. expended on its
various buildings, and 4-$-. gd. was spent on mending the road
by the Ecclesburn, to permit of the carriage of timber for the
work. The sum of i6s. 8{d. was spent on hedges and ditches
round " Maxenclif " and " Mareclos " in the same park, and 4^.
in repairing the fence of Bullsmoor. A shilling was expended
on drugs for sickly cattle.
The full return of the stock of Duffield Frith for that year was
thirty-eight oxen, 157 cows, five bulls, thirty-three heifers, fifty-
one steers, and seventy-three cows. Of these there were sold,
consumed, or died in the course of the year, thirty oxen, fifty-
one cows, two bulls, four steers, and thirty-four calves.
Roger Beler's accounts for 1322-3, are of some interest, as
also are those for 1326-7. The latter mention 32^. paid as the
tithe of the mills of Duffield and Belper to the rector of Duf-
field, which is henceforth an annual entry whenever the accounts
are extant. Under Richard de Slope, who was then parker of
Ravensdale, considerable repairs were done to the chief lodge
of the forest or earl's manor house within that park, including
22s. q.d. paid to a workman for 134 days' labour at 2d. a day on
the roofs, doors, and windows. The total expenditure on the
great house and park was £5 $s. 9!^., and embraced payment
for 1,500 shingles, and 100 spikes, 100 " bordnayles," and
painting and plastering with white clay (plasticando cum
argillo).
Among the expenses of the reeve of Belper (Simon Payn)
for 1327-8, are some exceptional entries that throw light upon
the then condition of that forest town and township. The
expenses included £9 worth of lead for the water conduit in
the park ; 39^. ^\d. for making a wall round the pond there,
etc. ; 22s. lod. for roof shingles and for stone for the walls of
a garderobe for the lodge ; 14.?. id. for repairing the knights'
lodge (camere milituni), and providing it with three garderobes ;
17^. for paling and hedging the lord's garden ; 4^. for carriage
of venison from the Belper larder to Tutbury ; 4^. for the
carriage of salt to the larder ; and 3^. 8d. for repairing the
glass windows of the chapel. There was also a charge in
another part of the accounts for a man and a cart carrying six
does to the lord at Kenilworth. The receiver from Belper
ward had $s. from Henry Alisson and his companions for
190 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
licences as fowlers, and 7^. 8d. for five oaks for the garderobe
for the camera juxta coquinam. Among the outgoings of
Colebrook ward for that year were 27^. 5^. as tithe to the
rector of Duffield of the agistment of Shottle park, and izd.
for mending the hedge and the deer-leap between the forest and
Crich Chase.
On loth November, 1330, Henry, Earl of Lancaster lessened
the area of Duffield Frith by bestowing Champagne park by
charter on his beloved valet Robert Foucher and Cicely his
wife and their heirs ; it had been disafforested and placed in
private hands as early as the reign of Edward I.
The records of various courts during the reigns of Edward III.
and Richard II. yield evidence of the nature of vert and
venison attachments ; among the former were many cases of
damage to hornbeam trees.
At a woodmote for Duffield Forest held in 1376-7, the
foresters presented Ralph Gregory for having killed a doe in
Postern park on Monday after the Feast of All Saints, and also
a doe in the park of Shottle in the month of September ; he
was committed to Tutbury.
Many interesting items could also be gleaned from the full
duchy accounts that are extant for 1377-8 and later years of
that century, but space forbids making even the briefest ex-
tracts.
The registers of John, Duke of Lancaster, covering the close
of the reign of Edward III. and the beginning of that of
Richard II., contain various references to Duffield Frith,
which have to be omitted for a like reason.
There was a serious charge of venison trespass at a wood-
mote held at " Le Cowhouse," Postern, on 2ist July, 1395.
This woodmote resulted in a jury inquisition. John de Brad-
shaw, chief forester, and Henry de Bradburne, and ten others
swore that Thomas de Statham and John Helot took a fat
buck (damnum de grace} in Colebrook ward with greyhounds
on 1 5th September; that the same two, with others unknown,
killed three bucks and a sore in Milnhay in the same ward on
2ist September ; and further, that the same Thomas and John
killed diverse bucks in the water in Colebrook ward. There
was another venison presentment against Thomas Jackson and
five others for having hunted with greyhounds in Hulland
DUFFIELD FRITH 191
ward. Such offenders as these would be committed to prison,
but released on bail, under a pledge of appearing at the next
forest pleas held at Tutbury. At the same mote, Goditha de
Statham, lady of Morley, the mother of Thomas Statham, the
poacher, was presented for having five mares in the park of
Shottle.
Henry Duke of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt, when he
came to the throne in 1399, brought Duffield Forest and the
rest of the duchy into immediate relationship with the Crown.
In September, 1405, the king (Henry IV.) ordered the chief
forester to supply twelve timber oaks towards the repair of
Duffield church.
Henry V., almost immediately on his coming to the throne
in 1413, made a complete change in the personnel of the chief
officials of this forest. Sir Philip Leche was appointed master
forester, and the following minor appointments were also made
to all of which certain fees or perquisites pertained : —
John Bradshaw, parker of Shottle.
Henry Bradshaw, ,, Postern.
Thomas Bradfield, ,, Ravensdale.
Richard Baldere, ,, Mansell.
John Gedling1, ,, Belper.
Richard Packer, ,, Morley.
Thomas Waterhouse, forester of Colebrook.
Richard Pilkston, ,, Hulland.
Nicholas Adderley, ,, Belper.
The accounts of the manors in the forest and purlieus of
Duffield Frith for 1417 mention for the first time stipends for
the reeves. The annual stipend of the reeve and " halswayne "
of Duffield was us. ; those of Belper, Alderwasley and Wirks-
worth, 5,r. ; Holbrook and Heage, 2s. ; and Hulland, Biggin
and Ideridgehay, 2od.
Among the Harley MSS. of the British Museum (568, 5138)
are two transcripts of the customary of the honor of Tutbury,
including Duffield Frith and the High Peak, with elaborate
accounts of the duties and authorities of the different officers.
This customary, which dates from the end of Henry V. or
beginning of Henry VI., is chiefly concerned with Tutbury
and Medwood forests. Several of the portions that specially
i92 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
relate to Duffield Frith have been cited in the introductory
chapters, and most of them have been printed in volume xv. of
the Derbyshire Archaeological Society's journal.
A woodmote was held at Belper on i4th May, 1466. In
addition to a variety of 2d. fines for small vert offences, several
of the tenants in Hulland ward were fined a similar sum for
not repairing the border fences according to their tenure. The
parkers of Ravensdale and Mansell, as well as Postern, had
nothing to present. The foresters of Chevin ward (an alms
for Duffield ward) presented Ralph Sacheverell, lately of
Snitterton, who came into the ward on 6th March, and without
any licence cut down six oaks called "spyres" for repair of two
houses. Various other inquiries were presented at this court.
John Kniveton, of Mercaston, killed a fawn without warrant in
Shottle park ; and in the same park William Cook, of Bradley,
John Vernon, of Haddon, and John Bradburne, of Heage,
each killed a doe, and three others a fawn. In Morley park
John Fynedun (also an armiger] killed a doe. Thomas Gresley,
who was deputy lieutenant of Duffield Frith, presented William,
son of the vicar of Wirksworth, and two others for entering the
forest on several occasions with four greyhounds.
At another woodmote held later in the same year at Ravens-
dale, the foresters of Belper presented that Thomas Gresley,
late deputy lieutenant of the chase, on Thursday before the
Feast of St. Thomas the Martyr, had killed a buck without
warrant, also that in Whitsun week he had killed another buck,
and that William Troutbek had committed the like trespass.
The keeper of Morley park charged Thomas Gresley with
a like offence in that enclosure. At the same court Roger
Vernon was presented for having sent Nicholas Bromhall, of
Alderwasley, to Shining Cliff within the forest to cut down eight
oaks called "spyres."
The explanation of these outbreaks on the part of the county
gentlemen is not far to seek, and they were common at this
period throughout the forests of England. It was in the midst
of the Wars of the Roses. Advantage was taken of this period
of civil commotion ; those who favoured York or Lancaster, as
the case might be, seem to have readily persuaded themselves
that they were entitled to make a raid on the forests of the one
or the other whom they chose to regard as a pseudo-king.
DUFFIELD FRITH 193
At a woodmote held at Belper on 23rd April, 1472, John
Harly, of Crich, yeoman, and two others were charged with
having broken into Shottle Park in Easter week, and hunted
with greyhounds, though they killed nothing. There were
various fines for vert trespasses in Milnhay, Belper ward, and
Hulland ward, the total amounting to 14^. 4^. In February,
1480, there was a sale of all the birches with their loppings,
and the underwood of Ladyshaw Wood.
Robert Bradshaw was the reeve of Duffield in 1482, with a
stipend of us. He is described as reeve voc' haselswayne.
William Assheton, who was reeve of both Belper and Heage,
received 5^. from each township. John Egginton, reeve of
Holbrook, also received $s. In the forest ward returns of this
year there is reference to the making of charcoal in Morley
park.
The records are preserved of several appointments of officials
of this forest during the reign of Henry VII. In 1485 Ralph
Langford had the comprehensive appointments bestowed on
him of lieutenant of Duffield Frith and steward of the same
and parker of all the parks ; but about a month later Nicholas
Kniveton was made parker of Ravensdale. Richard Salford
was made parker of Belper, and Sir Charles Somerset "Cap-
tain of our guard," parker of Postern in 1487. In 1491
Nicholas Kniveton became parker of Shottle, and in 1493
Humphrey Bradburne became parker of Mansell. In 1503
Roger Vernon was appointed to the custody of Shottle park.
In 1504, on the death of John Stafford, Thomas Day, "a valet
of our chamber," was made custodian of Morley park.
There are interesting full returns as to the venison of
Duffield Frith, killed both legitimately and illegitimately, for
the year 1498, as presented at a woodmote held at Cowhouse.
Shottle park : A doe was killed on the Sunday after St.
Barnabas' Day in the Blackbrook, and carried out of the pale
and stolen, but the offender was unknown. About the same
time a doe was killed and afterwards taken to Thomas Parker's
house. Roger Vernon had a buck from the keeper. The
Earl of Shrewsbury killed a buck, eleven sores, and a sorell,
and gave them to Sir Harry Willoughby and other squires
and gentlemen that were with him. The following were the
deer given either by special warrant or by the earl or keeper :
194 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Anthony Babington and Henry Sacheverell, each a sore ;
Thomas Talbot, a sore and a doe ; Nicholas Shirley, a sore ;
Godfrey Foljambe, Thomas Leghe, Master Elton, William
Sacheverell, Edward Savage, Master Stokes, Thomas Moly-
neux, William Gresley, the Abbot of Dale, and John Alsop
had each a buck. The keeper himself had 4 bucks and a sore.
Also the bailiff of Derby and others of the same town had a
buck on the Monday after St. Giles' Day. Murrain killed 23
"deer of auntelers," 16 prickets and does, and 32 fawns.
Mansellpark: Sir Ralph Longford and Sir Henry Willoughby
had each a buck ; John Montgomery, John Fitzherbert, and
John Ireton had each a sore, and Roger Vernon a buck and a
doe. A buck, a sorell, 4 does, and 5 fawns died of murrain.
Postern park: The Earl of Shrewsbury, Lady Hastings, John
Dettrick, Ralph Illingworth, Godfrey Foljambe, Roger Vernon,
Humphrey Bradburne, and Sir Henry Willoughby had each
a buck. Nicholas Kniveton the younger and Humphrey
Bradburne killed a sore by their own authority. The keeper
had a sore. "The patent man had a soure for his sute." A
sorell was stolen, by whom unknown. Master Talbot, a buck
by his own authority. Sir Ralph Longford, Sir Thomas
Gresley, and Sir John Montgomery killed 2 bucks and a doe
by their own authority. "A chaunce buk ley out and was
hurt in the bak and giffen to John Agard ; a buk was hurt on
our Ladys own Assumcion and was found dead and was lost."
Three bucks, a sore, 3 sorells, 7 does, and 12 fawns died of
murrain. The Lady park of Belper : The auditor, a doe and
a fawn. William Pope, a doe. The murrain killed a buck
and two does. Morley park : Sir Henry Willoughby, a
buck. Master Pole and his daughter, a sore. Master Osmond
killed a pricket. Thomas Borow, gentleman, killed a pricket
by warrant of Sir Ralph Longford. The keeper had a sore
and also "a chaunce stag." "Nicholas Kniveton and Roger
Vernon came into Morley parke and hunted by there own
auctorite and kylled no thyng. Item the seid Nicholas brak
the pale another tyme as he went to Butterly." A doe died of
the murrain. Hulland Ward\ Nicholas Kniveton the elder
and Humphrey Bradburne killed a buck "for there sute."
Nicholas Kniveton the younger, Humphrey Bradburne, and
Roger Vernon killed a buck by their own authority. "Then
DUFFIELD FRITH 195
the said Nicholas Kniveton the younger caused a buk to be
smytten, which Robert Bradshaw sonnes received." Ravens-
dale park : The Earl of Shrewsbury killed a buck. Sir
Henry Willoughby and the Commission had each a buck.
Sir Ralph Longford and Roger Vernon each two bucks. A
chance buck and two chance does were disposed of by the
keeper.
By the time that great sportsman Henry VIII. came to
the throne, the stock of fallow deer had materially decreased
throughout this forest, and the disafforesting of most of
Colebrook ward, through the king granting so large a part
of it to Anthony Lowe, deprived the forest deer of much
of their wildest runs. Nevertheless, they must have been
fairly abundant in parts as late as 1541, for the Earl of Shews-
bury, the chief forester, wrote to the Earl of Southampton
on 6th July hoping that the king, at his coming to Notting-
ham, would visit his poor house at Wingfield and hunt in
Duffield Frith ; but before the end of the month the earl was
dead.
In 1521 there must have been deer in the parks of Ravens-
dale and Mansell and generally throughout Hulland ward, for
15-r. was spent in those divisions in providing winter deer-
browse.
The king, in 1523, granted to Anthony Lowe, who was
forester- in -fee of Duffield Frith and keeper of Milnhay, to
occupy those offices without rendering any account or paying,
as his father Thomas Lowe did, at ,£3 1 1 s. a year for the
exercise of those offices ; a watermill and 200 acres of land in
Alderwasley were conferred on Anthony by the same patent.
There are many appointments to patent offices in this forest
entered throughout the reign of Henry VIII., such as John
Bradshaw, keeper of Postern park ; Thomas Doughty, keeper
of Morley park ; and Thomas Oakemanton, keeper of Ravens-
dale park in 1510.
Various forest appointments were also made by the Crown
in the reign of Edward VI., such as Sir Thomas Cokayne,
parker of Ravensdale, in June, 1553.
The leases of the parks of Shottle and Postern, including
rights over the deer, show how steadily the old forest customs
were deteriorating. At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign the
196 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
question was raised whether such leases were not equivalent
to disafforesting.
In Michaelmas term, 1559, Thomas Wynston, Esquire, of
Windley Hill — claiming the two parks of Shottle and Postern,
within Duffield Frith, by a forty years' lease from Philip and
Mary, at a rental of £86, and, for a further sum of £43 12^.,
full licence to take and use the deer within the two parks at
his will and pleasure — complained that Sir John Byron,
Francis Curson, Esquire, Edmund Tetlowe, and Richard
Kaye last May entered the parks, killed many of the deer,
carried away 1,000 loads of underwood, and continued to occupy
and hold the parks, and thus hindered the complainant in paying
his rent to the duchy.
There is no extant reply to this complaint, but in the follow-
ing year the question was again raised on another charge.
In 1560 Thomas Wynston, of Windley Hill, complained
to the chancellor (Sir Ambrose Cave) that he held a lease
on yearly payment of £86 from Philip and Mary of Shottle
park, within Duffield Frith, which was a paled enclosure
beyond man's memory, and within which there was "free
warren of dere and other game of venerie," but that John
Wigley, yeoman of Wirksworth, on 3rd January, " entered
into the said parke and there hunted without lycence and
kylled there certin dere as well as of season as note of season,
and the same trespas hath combyned by the space of sundrie
dayes and after to the utter destruction of the dere and game
to the disinheritance of the Quene . . . and to the damages
of the said Informer one hundred poundes." To this bill
John Wigley made answer that the letters patent of Philip
and Mary granting the deer of Shottle park to the com-
plainant had caused the enclosure to be disparked, and that
the defendant " claiminge to come by the said parke havinge
a brace of greyhounds with hym, the same greyhoundes dyd
verie soddenly breake from hym, and havinge a deere in the
winde came at the said deer and kylled it " ; that he never
hunted there again, and that, knowing that the complainant
was killing off the deer and disposing of them, was not aware
that he had committed any offence against the laws of the
realm.
In the following year the Crown confirmed to Thomas
DUFFIELD FRITH 197
Wynston the grant made by Philip and Mary in these two
parks of timber sufficient for the repair of houses, lodges,
hedges, and all manner of farm gear, as well as for fuel.
An elaborate survey of this forest, giving the exact number
of the trees and the condition of the undergrowth in each
ward and park, was drawn up in 1560. There is no other
known forest return of the sixteenth century which gives
nearly such full details. It was printed in full, with other
later surveys, in the Derbyshire Archaeological Society's
journal for 1903. The large trees were entirely oak. There
is not a single mention of an elm. The underwood included
white and black thorn, hazel, holly, maple, crab-tree, and
alder, as well as abundance of birch wood in Belper ward.
The totals work out to the large amount of 111,968 trees, of
which 59,412 were large oaks, 32,820 small oaks, and 19,736
oaks in more or less state of decay — " dottard oaks," and only
suitable for fuel.
The destruction of timber throughout Duffield Forest was
excessive during the whole of Elizabeth's reign. The contrast
between this survey of 1560 and another that was taken in 1587
is most extraordinary. There were at the latter date only
2,764 large oaks and 3,032 small oaks; they are set forth in
detail with their estimated worth. The total value of the
whole wood was somewhat under £2,000.
The commissions relative to this forest during Elizabeth's
reign were frequent. In 1581 Edward Stanhope, William
Agard, and Simon Arden were commissioned to view and
report on Duffield Frith. They called before them the wood-
wards and collectors of the three wards (for Colebrook ward
had now disappeared through the appropriation of the Lowe
family, and Shottle park was wholly in Duffield ward), as well
as divers of the tenants and freeholders, and by their informa-
tion and their own perambulations arrived at the following
conclusions : — That there is a woodward and collector or
forester-in-fee of each ward; that these wards were "till of
late years replenished with game and fallow deare, and had
divers other officers and ministers of chase as foresters-in-fee,
bow-bearers, and such like " ; that as " the said game is utterlie
destroyed ' they did not call for sight of such grants ; that in
Hulland there is a great deal of plain ground as well as
198 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
of woody and bushy ground ; that in Duffield there is much
plain ground and also a great deal of thin set wood ground by
name of Chevin ; that in Helper there is much plain ground
and a good deal of wood soil chiefly set with birch under-
wood ; that the tenants of the frith and the copyholders
bordering on the same have every third year reasonable hedge-
bote out of the woods to hedge their common cornfields, and
in winter to lop hollies and other undergrowth for relief of
the queen's game when there were deer, and for their own
cattle and sheep ; that all borderers and strangers taking away
any fuel, wood or browse (other than what may be sold by the
collectors) are amerced at the woodmote courts ; that all the
alders throughout the wards had been lately felled and sold
for Her Majesty's use ; that all tenants of Duffield, Belper,
Makeney, Hazelwood, Windley, Turnditch, Holbrook, Hul-
land, Ideridghay, Biggin, Ireton Wood, and Heage, and
other houses in the precincts of the frith claim and use common
of sheep and cattle ; that small benefit would accrue to the
Crown from the encopsing of the woods, and that it would be
prejudicial to the tenants, who are mainly poor and dependent
on the relief of pasturage in the frith ; that the underwood
might with advantage be divided into ten parts or "hagges,"
and let on lease, selling every year one part ; that the aptest
places for setting up "any bloweng mill for the melting of
lead ower (the same intended to be a water mill)" is in the Hul-
land ward at a little brook called Hulland brook, and in
Chevin or Duffield ward at Blackbrook, " so that there may be
one small overshot mill at cache of them, and will have water
to furnish worke one day at thone and an other day at the
other, onles it be in the drowght of somer " ; that near Hulland
brook are " one or two great and auncient heapes of Iron slag
or cinders whereby it should seem there hathe ben some
water worke there for melting of Iron stone " ; and that the
same preferment for lead ore should be charged in the manors
of the frith as in the Wapentake of Wirksworth, namely, a
halfpenny for every load of ore, twelve loads commonly
making a fother of lead.
In 1587 the inhabitants and borderers of Duffield Frith,
numbering 509 copyholders, freeholders, and ancient cot-
tagers and householders (forming a population of 1,800 with
DUFFIELD FRITH 199
their wives and children) petitioned the queen not to carry out
the project of leasing the underwood, as they had from time
beyond memory been accustomed to crop and browse of these
woods from Martinmas to the end of February for their cattle
whenever the weather was severe, paying a price for the same
at the end of the winter. If the leasing was carried out, they
considered they would be debarred from this, as well as from
their customary rights of fuel wood, and wood for the repairs
of their houses and hedges, and that they would " be utterly
impoverished thereby and constrayned to seek dwellings other
where." This petition was presented in September, 1587,
and in June, 1588, Edward Stanhope was appointed by the
Council of the duchy to enter into the grievances of these
tenants. On 5th July he met seven representatives of the
tenants at Nottingham, but after several adjournments they
were able to come to no satisfactory compromise.
In 1592 another commission was appointed to secure true
measurements of the " woodgrounds " of the frith, but after
thrice meeting the commissioners, the local jury declared
that it was impossible to execute such a task, giving their
reasons at length, which were chiefly because of the various
barren and stony places with which the woodlands were
interspersed.
The woodmote courts continued to be held and were busily
engaged in fining vert trespassers. At the court held at Cow-
house Lane in July, 1593, fifteen offenders who had carried off
green wood in Duffield ward were fined in sums varying from
$d. to 6d., thirty-nine in Belper ward, and sixty-four in
Hulland ward. The fines amounted to 35^. ; a pannage
court was held the same day, when a penny each was received
for 109 pigs.
At a woodmote held at Hulland on 2ist September, 1597,
the only business transacted was the imposing two fines of 2s.
each for cutting down trees. At the woodmote held at Chevin
House, on nth August, 1598, many vert trespassers were pre-
sented. In the Belper ward one offender was charged with
removing so many " bigis Anglia sleydfulls " of wood. In
other returns of this reign the taking of sledges and drags of
woods are mentioned. Thomas Sympson incurred the heavy
fine of 3-r. 4^. for cutting various birches.
200 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
On i gth December, 1598, another court was held at Chevin
House, before Anthony Bradshaw, as deputy steward ; the
foresters who appeared were John Curzon, William Kniveton,
and William Bradburne, esquires, and John Brockshaw,
gentleman. The names of agisters, parkers, and ward col-
tectors are also set forth. Henry Butler held the joint
sinecure offices of bow-bearer and axe-bearer, while Richard
Clark was the ranger. A large number of vert trespassers
were fined, chiefly in sums of 4^. and 6d. ; in various cases the
offenders are described as taking of horseloads, sleighloads, or
les backburdens ligni.
At a woodmote held at Chevin House, on nth March, 1600,
by Anthony Bradshaw as deputy steward, John Curzon was
present both as lieutenant and forester, and the other foresters
were Sir Humphrey Ferrers, William Kniveton, and John
Brockshaw. Thomas Johnson, the keeper of the two parks of
Manshull and Ravensdale was fined 2s. for absence, and the
parker of Morley is. for a like offence. No fewer than 123
vert trespassers were fined, in sums varying from 2.d. to \2.d.
" Waynelodes" are mentioned among the amounts of wood
taken.
At the next court, held on 8th July, two trees were
assigned to the town of Duffield towards the repair of their
bridge. Among the fines is the very heavy one of los. which
had to be paid by Richard Feme, for he not only cut two cart-
loads of green wood, but sold them at Derby.
Anthony Bradshaw, fourth son of William Bradshaw, of
Bradshaw, the deputy steward of the forest, who did so much
to sustain the privileges of the tenants of Duffield Frith, re-
sided at Farley Hall. He was a man of some literary power,
and wrote a long curious poem of fifty-four stanzas, early in
the reign of James I., entitled "A Frend's due Commendacion
of Duffeld Frith." It is printed in vol. xxiii. of the Reliquary.
He mentions therein the Earl of Shrewsbury as high steward
and John Curzon as lieutenant. The six parks of Morley,
Belper, Postern, Shottle, Ravensdale, and Mansell are all
named, but they were all farmed "andyeald nodeareatall," save
Mansell, and that " verie small." From these rhymes we learn
that "Tacke courtes " were held in addition to the woodmote,
"at Luke's day and Martinmas," and the tack dinner, when
DUFFIELD FRITH 201
each man had a hen in his pie, mentioned in the old customary,
was still maintained.
At a woodmote held by Anthony Bradshaw, in 1604, there
were nine cases of fines of i2d. each for beating down and
collecting acorns ; for taking a cartload de le Oiler (alder) wood,
a man was fined 6d., and the like fine was imposed for taking a
load of tynsell wood, or oven fuel; whilst I2d. was paid for
removing a load of le Oiler poles.
At the court held at Chevinsyde, on July, 1605, Sir Edward
Cokayne, keeper of Mansell park, appeared through William
Jesson, his deputy. Henry Butler, bow-bearer and axe-bearer
did not appear, and pleaded that he ought not to be called to
"wood pryses." Forty-five transgressors were fined on this
occasion. The ranger received a perquisite of wood for pro-
viding dinner Tor the officers of the court. This is the latest
date at which we have found direct evidence of the presence
of deer in the forest. William Jesson, as deputy of Sir
Edward Cokayne, swore that there then remained seventy-six
deer in Mansell park, and that four or five had died in the last
winter.
As matters ripened in Derbyshire against the arbitrary actions
of Charles I. and his advisers, the Crown claims over the
district of Duffield forest, more particularly in the old ward
of Colebrook, were more resisted and became more difficult to
establish. A singular agreement was come to between the
duchy and one Richard Neville to the effect that he should
have such land as by prosecution he could recover for the
Crown in Uttoxeter ward, Needwood forest, and in Cole-
brook ward, Duffield forest, at a rental of izd. per acre.
Neville succeeded in recovering much land in and around
Colebrook ward for the crown as part of the old royal frith
of Duffield. He was, however, not only put to heavy legal
costs, but his attempts to inclose were naturally resisted, lead-
ing to many riots and disorders. In December, 1639, Neville
petitioned the crown for an abatement of the covenanted rent,
as he not only found much of the land barren, but he was still
exposed to daily damage and interruption.
On 20th February, 1640, Richard Neville, described as a
gentleman of the bedchamber to the prince, obtained a formal
grant in fee-farm of the common or waste called " Milshay or
202 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Millmore, or Milshayward de Colebrookward," parcel of
Duffield Frith, and other lands recovered by his prosecutions,
charged with a rent of ^45 3-r. per annum ; but at the same
time 550 acres of Millhay was assigned to Edward Potterell
and others as trustees for the commoners and tenants of Alder-
wasley and Ashleyhay at a rent of 2^. per annum. Probably
the Crown, in accordance with the usual disafforesting arrange-
ments of this reign, took one-third of the common, the other
two-thirds being reserved for the commoners.
The statements appended to a Parliamentary Survey of this
forest give a clear insight into the action of the Crown as to
the commoners during this reign.
A survey of the " Royaltye of the late disforrested Forest or
Chase called Duffield Frith . . . late parcell of the possessions
of Charles Stuart late king of England " was made in July,
1650, by order of Parliament. The chief rent due from several
adjacent townships for liberty of commonage amounted to
56^. Afd. ; the royalty, including waifs, strays, felons' goods,
hawking, and hunting, 40^. ; of cottages on encroachments,
,£24 13.?. zd. ; and "the mines delfes or pitts of coale now
in use or hereafter to be digged . . . with liberty of ruckeing
and stackeing of such coales . . . and of erecting of cottages
for the habitacion of collyers with free passage for horses,
carts, and carriages passing to and from the said coale delfes,"
^"30. The commissioners let the benefits of the royalties and
of the coal for a year to John Mundy, of Allestree, and Thomas
Newton, of Duffield.
The report cites the grant of 4th September, 1634, when a
third part of Belper ward, 561 acres, assigned to the king by
the Council of the duchy in the previous year, was transferred
to Sir Edward Sydenham at a yearly rent of 2is. 8d. At the
same time it was proposed to assign to the king a third part
of Chevin ward, to be chosen by lot, the remaining two-thirds
to be granted to the commoners at 2s. per acre for all they
enclosed, being discharged of their old rent of $6s. 4^. ; but
only thirty-one commoners agreed to this proposal, upwards
of four hundred being opposed to it. Nevertheless, a decree
was passed for a division in the duchy chamber, and the
king's commissioners took what part they liked best without
any casting of lots, taking in all the places "where the Coale
DUFFIELD FRITH 203
Delfes are now sunke." In September, 1634, tne king granted
this third part of Chevin ward to Sir Edward Sydenham, and
it was enclosed; and "the inhabitants were compelled by force
and terror to submite thereunto." Nor were the other two
parts ever granted to the commoners in fee-farm, although
enclosed, nor were any admitted tenants of this enclosed
ground, save the small minority who had agreed to the en-
closure. Thereupon, in 1643, the inhabitants threw open all
the enclosures of this ward, including the king's third part, and
since enjoyed it all in common. " Had not the distraction by
the late Warres prevented them, they had all joyned in a Bill
of Reveiwe to reverse the Decree made upon soe slender
grounds and soe illegally without theire consent." The com-
missioners stated that they had had all this testified to them by
a jury consisting of " men of qualitye and sufficient abilityes
in those partes and neighbours to the place" ; that they were
convinced that, though a few private persons had been gainers
by the enclosure, a far more considerable number had been
" damnifyed thereby" ; and that therefore they considered the
ward to be rightly common.
The affairs of most of Colebrook ward were settled, as we
have seen, in 1639-40. Hulland ward was divided at the same
time as Belper ward, in 1633-4, the king's third, consisting
of 490 acres valued at 9^. zd. a year being granted to Sir
Edward Sydenham. The successful opposition to enclosure
only prevailed in the large ward of Duffield or Chevin, includ-
ing Shottle park.
All that part of the old forest that was, by violent means,
thrown open to the commoners in 1643 remained common
until 1786, when 1,500 acres were enclosed by an Act of 26
George III.
CHAPTER XVI
SHERWOOD FOREST
THE old ballads of Robin Hood, which were popular
rhymes as early as the middle of the fourteenth century,
as we know from the Vision of Piers Ploughman, have
probably been the chief cause of the undying fame of Sherwood
Forest. But these pages have to deal with historic facts, and
not with traditions, however substantial may be their basis.
The fascinating subject of outlaw life under the greenwood
tree of this celebrated forest must, therefore, be passed by ;
those who desire to know all that can be known of Robin
Hood and his ballads had better consult the five scholarly
volumes of Mr. F. J. Child, of Boston, Mass., published in
1882, entitled English and Scottish Popular Ballads. The
delightful modern ballads of the Rev. R. H. Whitworth, who
has for forty years resided, as vicar of Blidworth, in the very
centre of ancient Sherwood, are saturated with the true forest
spirit, and are eminently worthy of collective publication.
The celebrated forest of Sherwood included within its bounds
most of the central part of the county of Nottingham. Its
exact bounds were laid down in a perambulation of 1232.
Roughly speaking, it was twenty-five miles one way, by nine
or ten the other ; at one extremity was the county town of
Nottingham, and at another was Mansfield, whilst Worksop
was close to the northern boundary.
Many of the places afterwards within the forest are named in
the Domesday Survey as members of the king's great manor of
Mansfield, so that the amount of royal demesne in the district
made its conversion by the early Norman kings into a large
forest a comparatively easy matter. The first exact notice
of the forest occurs in the year 1154, when William Peverel,
204
PLATE XIX
SHERWOOD FORESTER-OF-FEE, SKEGBV CHURCH
SHERWOOD FOREST 205
the younger, answered to the forest pleas. He controlled the
forest, and held the profits under the Crown. On the for-
feiture of the Peverel estates the forest lapsed to the king, and
was for some time administered by the sheriffs for the joint
counties of Derby and Nottingham.
In the time of Richard I., Matilda de Caux and her husband
Ralph Fitz-Stephen, were confirmed in the office of chief
foresters of Sherwood. Matilda died in 1223, when she was
succeeded as chief forester-of-fee by her son John de Birkin,
and he in his turn by his son Thomas de Birkin. In 1231
this hereditary office came to Robert de Everingham in
right of his wife Isabel, who was sister of Thomas de Birkin.
Adam de Everingham was chief forester or keeper of Sherwood
at the beginning of the reign of Edward I., and he was
succeeded by his son Robert de Everingham. Soon after
this, Robert de Everingham incurred the king's displeasure,
and this office was seized by the Crown as forfeited. This
Robert de Everingham, who was keeper in 1284, was the last
of hereditary descent. The office was afterwards conferred at
will by the Crown upon various persons of high position as
a mark of royal favour.
From the Close Rolls of 1286, it would appear that the offence
which brought about the downfall of the last hereditary keeper
of this forest was certain grievous abuse of his position as
guardian of the king's deer. In November of that month the
Crown addressed a letter to the deputy of the forest justice
beyond Trent ordering the release from Nottingham gaol of
Robert de Everingham, John de Everingham, John the Con-
stable, and eight others, imprisoned for trespass of venison in
Sherwood, in bail to twelve men, who were bound to produce
them at the next eyre, and on condition that they would not
hereafter incur forfeiture in that forest.
The royal grants of oaks from Sherwood Forest were fre-
" quent throughout the reign of Henry III. In 1228 four oaks
were given to William Avenel, described in the grant as wait-
ing on the King of Scotland ; two to the leper hospital of
Chesterfield ; six to the priory of Bligh ; six to the canons
of Newark ; and three to the priory of Thurgarton. The gifts
to religious houses usually specify that the trees were for the
works then in progress at the churches or other buildings.
206 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Occasionally these gifts from Sherwood consisted of ready-
trimmed timber; thus in 1228 the king sent twenty beams
[copulas] from the forest to the church of the distant priory of
Wormegay, Norfolk, then in progress; and in 1229 forty
rafters (chevrones) to the abbot and canons of Croxton. A
single oak was also sent in the latter year into Norfolk to one
Richard de St. John, chaplain of Henry de Burgs ; the bailiff
was directed to fell one as near as possible to the river Trent,
as it had to reach Norfolk by water carriage. In the same
year a single oak was granted to the prior of Bligh to make
a door for his hall. In 1231, William Bardulf had a grant from
Sherwood Forest of twenty tree trunks suitable for timber
(fusta ad maeremium inde faciendum}.
Henry III. dealt generously with the fallow deer of Sher-
wood. Thus in 1229 he gave two does to Beatrice, wife of
Walter de Evermuth, constable of Lincoln Castle ; ten does
and a brocket to John, the constable of Chester, to be placed in
his park of Dunyton ; ten does and two bucks to Hugh Dis-
pencer to help to stock his park at Loughborough ; and twenty
does and two bucks for the Bishop of Carlisle's park at Mel-
burne. In 1230, fifteen more does and five bucks were sent to
Hugh Dispencer's park at Loughborough, whilst a further
donation of ten does and two bucks was made to the same
park in the next year. The Bishop of Lincoln received twelve
Sherwood does and three bucks in 1231 towards the stocking
of his park at Stowe.
At the eyre of 1251, held at Nottingham before Geoffrey
Langley, chief justice of the forests north of the Trent, an
inquisition was held respecting the ministers of Sherwood
Forest. It was then reported that there were within the forest
three keepings, namely, the first between Leen and Doverbeck,
the second the High Forest, and the third Rumewood ; and
that Robert de Everingham, as chief keeper, ought to have
a sworn chief servant (a riding or itinerant forester, as de-
scribed in other »forests), who was to go through all the forest
at his own cost to attach transgressors, and to present them
before the verderers at the attachment courts. In the first
keeping, the chief keeper was to have one riding forester with
a servant, two foot foresters, two verderers, and two agisters.
In this keeping there were three parks or hays, namely, Best-
SHERWOOD FOREST 207
wood, Lindley, and Welby. In the second keeping, of High
Forest, Robert de Everingham was to have two riding foresters
with their servants, two foot foresters, two verderers, and two
agisters. In this keeping were the two parks of Birkland,
with Billahaugh and Clipston, to which pertained two other
verderers and two agisters. In the third keeping of Rume-
wood there was to be one foot forester, two verderers, and two
agisters ; and also two woodwards,, one for Carburton and
another for Dudley.
It was also declared that Robert de Everingham ought to
provide a servant, bearing his bow, to gather cheminage
through the forest.
At the same inquisition it was further stated that the abbey
of Rufford was entitled, by charter of Henry II., to a liberal
measure of vert throughout the forest, for they could have
whatever timber they required for the building or repairing
not only of their establishment at Rufford, but also for all their
granges, whether they were situated within or without the
forest ; they also held the right of haybote, or whatever they
required for their fences. The monks might have a forester or
woodward of their own, but he was to do fealty before the
king's justices, and to report at the attachment courts what
trees had been taken by the abbey's orders.
Among the grants of timber from this forest made to
religious houses in the earlier part of the reign of Edward I.
may be mentioned ten oaks, with their loppings (esccetis], for
the Carmelite friars of Lincoln (1276) ; thirty oaks to the prior
of Blyth, to repair his house, accidentally burned (1278);
four oaks to the Austin friars of Tickhill, for the work of their
church, and six to the Franciscan friars of Nottingham for
a like purpose (1279); four oaks fit for timber to the Austin
friars of Lincoln (1280) ; twelve oaks to the priory of Shelford
(1281); twelve oaks to the same priory, four oaks to the
• Franciscan friars of Nottingham, and six oaks for timber to
the Franciscan friars of Lincoln, together with twelve oaks for
roofing shingles. Oaks were also on several occasions in this
reign supplied from Bestwood park for the repairs of Notting-
ham Castle, and of the royal mills below the castle.
The royal warrants at this period for Sherwood venison and
deer are fairly frequent. The king kept Easter, 1276, at
208 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Lincolft, and orders were issued on i3th March for fifteen does
to be supplied for the royal use at that season from Sherwood
Forest, in addition to twelve bucks from Galtres Forest. The
keeper of Sherwood was ordered in 1277 to cause Richard
Folyot to be supplied with two live bucks and ten does to stock
his park at Grimston. In 1279, eight live does and four bucks
were granted to William de Colwick to help to stock his park
of Colwick.
The Close Rolls supply interesting information now and
again of merciful royal attention to venison offences. On
2nd March, 1278, the king ordered Geoffrey de Neville,
justice of the forest beyond Trent, to deliver John de Cokefeld
from prison to twelve men, who were to mainpern to have
him before the king in a month from Easter, if the king or any
other wished to speak against him ; the charge against him
was the taking of a stag (red deer) in Sherwood Forest. The
same justice was ordered by Edward I., in 1280, to take no
action against Eustace de Hacche and six other transgressors
for having taken three does and a hind in this forest, as
the king had pardoned them. In 1285, the heavy fine of
100 marks on Thomas de Carducis on account of venison
trespass in Sherwood was annulled by letters patent.
Edward I. was much attached to the two younger sons
of Walter Bek, baron of Eresby, Thomas and Anthony. They
were both king's clerks, and eventually obtained high promo-
tion ; their names occur on various occasions in connection
with benefits from this great forest. Thomas, the second son,
was consecrated Bishop of St. David's in 1280. On Christmas
Day of the following year, Edward I. granted him four live
bucks and eight live does to stock his park at Pleasley, on the
confines of the forest. On the same day the king sent a letter
to the justices next in eyre for pleas of the forest in the county
of Nottingham, ordering them not to molest or vex the bishop
on account of four bucks taken by him in the previous autumn,
when passing through the royal forest of Sherwood, as the
king had sanctioned, by word of mouth, his taking four bucks
when next he passed through the forest as a royal gift. In
1285 the same bishop was granted twelve good oak trees fit for
timber out of these woods. Anthony Bek, the third son, the
celebrated Bishop of Durham, was a still greater favourite
SHERWOOD FOREST 209
of Edward I. In 1282, he had twenty good oaks granted him
out of Sherwood for the construction of his houses at Somerton,
as well as four bucks and eight does to stock his park at
Northwell. In the following year he was the recipient of
twelve oaks and eight live deer from the like source. The
king, as a special mark of his favour, at the time of Anthony's
consecration to the bishopric of Durham, in January, 1284,
forwarded to the bishop the largest grant out of Sherwood
Forest of which there is record, namely, ten live bucks and
twenty live does.
The forest pleas began to be held irregularly in the latter
part of Henry III.'s reign, especially north of the Trent.
There was an eyre, however, held for Sherwood at Notting-
ham in 1263, and again in 1267. At the latter date the abbot
of Rufford was charged with having taken 483 oaks out
of the forest since the last eyre ; but he successfully pleaded
the charter of Henry II. in justification.
With the advent of Edward I. to the throne, all attempts at
regularity in holding the eyres seem to have been abandoned.
So far as Sherwood was concerned, an eyre was held in 1287,
but nearly half a century elapsed before the forest justices
again visited Nottingham, namely, in 1334.
The pleas of the foresters and verderers of Sherwood were
held at Nottingham on I4th January, 1287, before Sir William
de Vesey, Thomas de Normanville, and Richard de Creping,
justices in eyre of the lord king. The verderers were six
in number. Robert de Everingham was the forester-in-fee,
and under him were eight sworn foresters.
The following venison presentment, cited by Mr. Turner,
may be given as an example : —
" It is presented and proved that on the Wednesday next after the
Feast of St. William, Archbishop of York, in the year aforesaid,
Robert, the son of Agnes Bode of Edwinstowe, and Richard atte
Townsend of the same town, came by night through the middle
of the town of Wellow with two fawns of a kind. And the afore-
said Richard was taken with his fawn by men watching in the town
of Wellow ; and committed to the stocks of Peter de la Barre of the
same town. And the same Robert broke his stocks and fled ; there-
fore the aforesaid Peter foond mainpernors to make answer. And
the aforesaid Richard came, and being convicted of this is sent to
p
210 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
prison (and he is ransomed elsewhere). And it is witnessed that
Robert, the son of Agnes, is dead ; therefore nothing of him. And
the aforesaid Peter dwells in the same county ; therefore the sheriff
is ordered, etc."
Sir William de Vesey and his fellow justices finding that
the king had sustained many losses since the last eyre held
by Robert de Neville and others, arising in many instances
from the assize of the forest not being sufficiently observed,
it was by them provided :—
That all verderers, in accordance with the charter of the
forest, were to assemble every forty days to hold attachments
for vert and venison and small pleas.
That they were to present a single roll of vert and venison
to the justices in eyre, and not each one a separate roll for
his own bailiwick.
That anyone dwelling in the forest found felling a green
oik be attached for the next attachment court, there to find
pledges till the next eyre, and to pay the price to the
verderers ; a second offence to be dealt with in like manner ;
but for a third offence to be imprisoned at Nottingham, and
there kept till he be delivered by the king or justice of the
forest.
That anyone dwelling outside the forest committing any
trespass against the vert, his body is to be committed to
prison till he be delivered by the king or justice ; for a third
offence he is also to lose his horses and cart or his oxen and
wagon, or their price, and that price is to be paid at the
next attachment to the verderers for the king's use.
That those dwelling in the forest caught cutting saplings,
branches, or drywood from oaks, or hazels, or thorns, or limes,
or alders, or hollies, or such-like trees without warrant, are to
be attached by two good pledges to come to the next attach-
ment court, there to be amerced for the king ; but if it be for
a sapling which is of greater price than <\d. or any higher
sum, to be attached until the next eyre.
That escapes of beasts of the plough into the forest be
pleaded in the attachments, and amends taken for the use of
the king.
That no man carry bows or arrows in the forest, outside
SHERWOOD FOREST 211
the king's highway, save a sworn forester, and on the king's
highway only in accordance with the assize of the forest.
That no man save a sworn forester or other sworn officer
attach any one in the future.
That any dweller outside the forest agisting his animals
therein is to have such animals taken before the verderers, and
the price paid, and to make answer before the justices in eyre.
That the great burden of so many regarders is no longer
to be endured, but that in this forest the number be limited to
twelve.
And that those taken by night or in the fence month within
the forest be dealt with as before.
From the MS. book dealing with the perambulations and
pleas of Sherwood in the reigns of Henry III. -Edward III.,
it appears that the very large number of 350 head of deer (both
red and fallow) had fallen victims to the murrain in the year
previous to the holding of this eyre.
The attachment rolls of this forest for 1292-3 are chiefly
of interest on account of the presentment of vert offences,
and the fines assigned. A green oak was valued at 6d., and
a dry or leafless oak at \d. A sapling (bletrum*} varied from
id. to T>d. ; and a stub or dry trunk of a pollarded tree at 2d.
In one case the same offender was fined \2.d. for three dry
oaks, i2d. for two green ones, and 2.d. for a sapling.
Another survey of the forest was held in 29 Edward I.
(1300), when the bounds as fixed by 16 Henry III. were con-
firmed, but with certain important additions.
In April, 1309, the sheriff was ordered to assemble all the
regarders and foresters to make regard or survey therein
before the coming of the justices of the forest, and to cause
regarders to be elected in the place of those who were dead or
infirm, so that they be twelve in number. The foresters were
to swear that they would lead twelve knights throughout their
whole bailiwicks to view all the trespasses, and to set out the
same in writing. The phrase as to the coming of the justices
was a mere form ; it was repeated in the summons for the
regard of Sherwood in 1312, although in neither case was the
survey followed by an eyre.
Ample provision of wood from this forest was made on the
212 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
occasion of the Parliament being held at Lincoln in the early
part of 1316. The keeper was ordered to deliver to the sheriff
fifty leafless oaks in the wood of Bliorth, within the bounds
of Sherwood Forest, belonging to the archbishopric of York,
then void and in the king's hands, for the twofold object of
making charcoal and providing boards for dressers or tressle
tables ; also thirty oaks from the forest near the banks of the
Trent for firewood for the king's hall ; and thirty leafless oaks
for firewood for the king's chamber against the ensuing Parlia-
ment at Lincoln, to be felled and carried to Lincoln by the
sheriff, and there to be delivered by him to the clerk of the
king's scullery.
The oaks of Sherwood Forest were always held in good
repute when choice timber was required. An order was made
by Edward II., when at Nottingham Castle on 28th December,
1324, that the sheriff of Nottingham was to have the best oak
or other timber out of the forest that might be selected by the
carpenters as most suitable for the construction of nine spring-
aids. The springald was a kind of catapult weapon for the
discharge of stones or great arrows ; these nine engines were
required as part of the armament for the expedition into the
duchy of Acquitaine.
A large bundle of attachment court records from 1317 to
1324 are of interest as showing how often these minor forest
courts were at that period being held in Sherwood. They
were held at four different centres, namely, Edwinstowe,
Mansfield, Lindley, and Calverton. In the year 1317 twenty-
two of these courts were held, six each at Edwinstowe and
Mansfield, five at Lindley, and four at Calverton. Amongst
those presented for vert offences in 1318 were two of the local
secular clergy, namely, Nicholas de Nottingham, rector of Clip-
ston, for taking a load of branches, fined id., and Robert de
Kirkby, rector of Kirkby, who was fined 3^. for appropriating
a dry stub. William de Bevercote, one of the prebendaries of
Southwell, committed a more serious trespass (probably
venison) about this date, for which he was imprisoned at
Nottingham. In October, 1319, the king ordered his release
to twelve mainpernors, who were to produce him before the
justices at the next eyre.
After an interval of nearly fifty years the forest pleas for
SHERWOOD FOREST 213
Sherwood were again held at Nottingham, namely, on 2nd
March, 1334, before Ralph de Neville, Richard de Aldborough,
and Peter de Middleton. The following is an example of a
venison presentment at this eyre, having reference to a tres-
pass that was nine years old :—
"It is presented and proved that Hugh of Wotehall of Wood-
boroug-h, William Hyend, Wilcock formerly the servant of the
parson of Clifton, and Stephen Fleming of Nottingham, on 13
June, 1325, were in the wood of Arnold, in the place which is called
Throwys, with bows and arrows. And they shot a hart so that it
died. And its flesh was found putrid and devoured by vermin in a
place which is called Thweycehilli ; and the arrow was found in the
said hart, wherewith it was shot. And the aforesaid Hugh came
before the justices and is sent to prison. And the aforesaid William
and Wilcock are not found. Nor have they anything whereby, etc. ;
therefore let them be exacted. And the aforesaid Stephen Fleming
is dead ; therefore nothing of him. And afterwards the aforesaid
Hugh is brought out of prison, and is pardoned because he is poor.
And the aforesaid William and Wilcock were exacted in the county
and did not appear ; therefore they are outlawed."
The number of venison presentments at this eyre was 119,
which was not at all large considering the long period since
the last of these courts. In several cases there was no definite
charge of deer-slaying, or even being seen with dogs or bows
and arrows, but simply of trespass. Such trespass would be
by strangers at night, or during the fence month. Some of
the transgressors were of high position, among them including
John, son of Lord John de Grey, who was found in the Bestwood
enclosure with bows and six greyhounds, running a herd of
hinds (Jierdum bissaruni), of which he killed two; John le Bret,
"due de Wenton," who killed a hind with four greyhounds ;
and Henry Curson, of Breadsall, who killed a hind at
" Crossedoke," in Clipston wood.
In one case a hind met with its death in an exceptional
manner. John Bot, of Boltby, mower of Allerton, struck a
hind with a stone and broke one of its legs ; this caused its
death, and it was found drowned in the stream of Allerton, by
Langwith bridge.
At this eyre the ministers of the forest were asked upon their
2i4 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
oath from what person or persons the foresters were wont to
receive and have their living. In reply they cited from an
inquiry made by writ in 1289, shortly after Edward I. had
removed Robert de Everingham from his bailiwick as here-
ditary keeper or chief forester by reason of his misdeeds, citing
the various extensive perquisites and privileges that he had
maintained.
In return for these emoluments Robert de Everingham pro-
vided foresters at his own charge. It therefore followed that
after the keepership was forfeited to the Crown, that the
foresters were to continue to be paid by whomsoever the Crown
from time to time appointed keeper.
A roll of amercements of persons convicted at the attachment
courts of -vert trespasses appraised at more than 4^., and
which could not be amerced save at the eyre, was presented to
the justices. This roll included about 750 trespasses, varying
in price of the vert from 6d. for honey found in an oak, for
boughs, and for trunks, to 2s. for a single oak. These values
had already been paid to the verderers, and the additional
fines now imposed by the justices varied from is. to 2s. In
each case the names of the two pledges for the trespasser's
appearance follow the entry of the offence.
It is not surprising, after all this interval since the last eyre,
to find that some of the verderers' rolls for the different attach-
ment courts of the forest were missing for the years 1288,
1289, 1290, and 1291. The fines imposed upon the verderers
of 1334 for these losses amounted to the considerable sum of
£20 8s. 2d.
As the justices of the forest so seldom appeared, they seem
to have been all the more determined to exact appearances and
respect when the eyre was held. The whole of the free tenants
of the forest had to put in an appearance. On the first day
three of them were absent. John Bardolf successfully pleaded
that he had not received his letter of summons ; but Adam
de Everyngham was fined 15^., and Joan, widow of Ralph
de Birton, 6s. 8d. for their absence. The reeves and four-men
of every township within the limits had also to be present.
On the first day, William Goodrych, and William de Norman-
ton, both of Lenton, were fined collectively 3,?. 4^., whilst
William Router, the reeve of Basford, had to pay 2s.
SHERWOOD FOREST 215
f
Before the justices left Nottingham, they issued a series
of pardons for both venison and vert offences. Amongst the
eighteen pardoned were Sir John le Bret, the rector of Annesley,
and the vicar of Edwinstowe.
In 1340, the king pardoned John, Bishop of Carlisle, for
killing a doe in Sherwood Forest and taking it away.
In the accounts presented by William Latimer, who was
then keeper of Sherwood Forest, for the years 1368-9, record
is made of the whole of the attachment courts. The return
shows that substantial efforts were then made to comply with
the forest law by holding attachments every forty days in each
district ; Edwinstowe was the only centre that fell short of the
proper number, having but seven of these forest courts during
the twelvemonth ; nine each were held at Mansfield, Lindley,
and Calverton. There are no special features about the pre-
sentments of that year.
The Sherwood exchequer accounts for 1395-6 show that
£30 of the forest profits were that year expended upon the
royal lodge or manor house of Clipston.
The accounts for 1430-2 give full details of the agistment
of the park of Clipston ; cows were charged from 6d. to lod.
each, and calves ^d. ; the total agistment for 1431 came to
2os. *]d. Particulars are also given of the pannage in Best-
wood park ; the average charge for each pig at this date
was 2d.
From an inspeximus and confirmation granted to the monks
of Rufford in 1462, citing all their old royal charters, it ap-
peared that the men of Clipston and Edwinstowe were not
allowed to take anything from the abbey woods that were
within the forest, and that the monks were at liberty to sell all
windfalls within their woods, and to root up dead stumps, and
take heather without let or hindrance.
Sir William Hastings, in 1471, was granted for life by the
Crown, the offices of constable of Nottingham Castle, together
with that of keeper and steward of Sherwood Forest, and the
keepership or wardship of all the parks and woods, with every
possible privilege of agistment, pannage, cheminage, dog-
silver, etc. The abuse of accumulating a great number of
distinct forest offices in one man's hands and allowing all the
work to be done by poorly paid underlings or deputies began,
216 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
so far as Sherwood was concerned, soon after me extinction
in Edward I.'s time of the hereditary forestership.
In the reign of Edward IV., and subsequently, various
appointments of king's foresters of Sherwood are entered on
the Patent Rolls at a wage of ^d. a day.
A forest session was held at Allerton on 3rd June, 1538.
Among the higher officials, Thomas Earl of Rutland is
named as master of the game, and Sir John Byron as keeper
of Bestwood park and forester of Thorney. Eleven other
foresters, thirty-five woodwards, fourteen regarders, three
verderers, and the constables and four-men of twenty-eight
townships are all specified as being in attendance.
The large majority of the constables and " fower-men " of
different towns stated on their corporal oath that they "doth
knowe nothing that is to the disturbaunce of the kyng his
game or woode within the seide Foreste." Among the ex-
ceptions may be quoted the two following presentments from
Mansfield :—
" Item, the Constable and Power men of the towneshippe of
Mannsefelde sayeth that one Cristofer Shutte, Gerves Herdy, and
one William Falcherde dothe kepe in their bowses moo Fyres then
of right they ought to do, wherebye the kyng his woode is destroyed
extendyng every yere to three score lodes contrarie the Statute of
the Forest.
" Item, that one Richarde Swynesloo, Thomas Clerke, Cristofer
Bradeshawe [and five others] dothe staff-hyrde theire shepe of the
Kyng his Common the number of twelve score where the Kyng his
deare shulde have their peacablie Feadyng."
The jury of freemen of the town of Nottingham presented
the names of four burgesses, each of whom owned a greyhound,
but stated that they only kept them for the purpose of hunting
hares and foxes in the forest (to which they had a chartered
right), and not for the disturbance of the king's game. The
justices accepted their plea as to the motive for keeping the
greyhounds. They also made two orders affecting the forest
wood — firstly, that no hedgebote nor firebote was to be taken
without the deliverance of the woodward, nor any housebote
without the deliverance of the keeper as well as the woodward ;
and secondly, that no one was to fell any of his own wood for
PLATE XX
MONUMENT OF THOMAS LEAKE-BLIDWOKTH CHURCH
SHERWOOD FOREST 217
any intent "withoute the especiall lycense of the kynge his
highnes, or the Justice of the Foreste, and that none from
hencesforthe do take aine woode for bleaching."
At the east end of the south aisle of Blidworth church,
which stands on a commanding site about the centre of Sher-
wood Forest, is a mural tablet to the memory of a local
Elizabethan worthy, Thomas Leake, who was ranger of Blid-
worth walk or ward of this forest. The memorial tablet was
put up a few years later; round the margin (Plate xx.) are
a curious number of hunting trophies, long-bows, cross-bows,
horn, hounds, etc. The epitaph is :—
Here rests T. Leake, whose virtues were so knowne
In all these parts, that this engraved stone
Needs naught relate but his untimely end,
Which was in single fig-ht, whylst youth did lend
His ayde to valor, hee wl ease oerpast
Many slyght dangers, greater then this last ;
But willfulle fate in these things governs all,
Hee towld out threescore years before his fall,
Most of w1' tyme hee wasted in this wood
Much of his wealth, and last of all his blood.
1608. Febr. 4.
The date on the slab is that of its erection. The parish
registers show that "Thomas Leeke, esquier," was buried on
4th February, 1597-8. In the churchyard stands a massive
cross to his memory. A brass plate affixed to it in 1836
records that the cross was originally erected at the place in the
woodlands where this gladiator insignis met with his death, and
moved at that date to the churchyard.
A careful survey made in 1609 showed that there were then
21,009 oak trees in Birkland, and 28,900 in Bilhagh, or a total
of 49,909, and that the trees in general were, even at that date,
past maturity. It may here be mentioned, as showing the
steady diminution of timber that went on from that date,
through decay, tempest, and felling, that in 1686 the Birkland
and Bilhagh trees only totalled 37,316, including a great
number of hollow or decayed trees, and that in 1790 they were
reduced to 10,117.
A large number of these trees during this period were felled
for the navy, particularly under the Commonwefhh ; but the
stock was subject to further reduction on a large scale by
2i8 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
exceptional grants that were made from time to time. Thus,
about 1680 the inhabitants of Edwinstowe petitioned the Crown
for permission to fell 200 oaks to the value of .£200, out of the
hays of Birkland and Bilhagh, for the repair of their parish
church, then in a ruinous condition through the fall of the
steeple. The petition was entertained, and on a survey being
made for that purpose it was found that "although there were
yet standing many thousand trees, few of which there were but
what were decaying, and very few useful for the navy."
As to the red deer of the forest — the fallow deer were con-
fined to the parks — they increased during the eighteenth
century. The 1,000 head of 1538 was admittedly only a rough
estimate ; a more particular survey of 1616 gave the numbers
at 1,263, and another of 1635 at J>367. Out of the latter
total, 987 were termed raskall, or out of condition.
In 1708 a representative meeting of the gentlemen of the
north of the county was held at Rufford, at which a strongly-
worded petition was adopted, addressed to the Crown, com-
plaining of "the grievous and almost intolerable burden we
labour under by reason of the numerous increase of the red
deer in the forest of Sherwood these late years." They com-
plained that so many of the woods had been granted or given
away by the queen's predecessors that there was but little
harbour left for the deer in the forest, and the deer in conse-
quence were distributed all over the county, eating up the corn
and grass ; that their tenants had often to watch all night to
keep the deer off; that their servants were terrified by several
new keepers made by the present deputy- warder, who "threaten
them if so much as they do set a little dog at the deer though
in the corn"; that not only had they to watch their cornfields,
where the deer often lay nine or ten brace together, but they
so destroy private woods as to injure them to the extent of
from £10 to £50 a year.
At the same time another petition was addressed to the
House of Commons with about 400 signatures, wherein it was
stated that the number of red deer in the forest, "till very
lately, had seldom or never exceeded three hundred, which was
as great a number, considering the barreness of the soil and
the great destruction of the woods, as the forest could main-
tain." In the light of other evidence this estimate, used for the
SHERWOOD FOREST 219
sake of strengthening the petitioners' arguments, was probably
much below the mark. The petitioners proceeded to state that
these deer now numbered more than 900 ; that they roamed
over the whole country to find sustenance, but more particularly
that these depredations were chiefly carried on in "the division
called Hatfield and the whole district of the Clay ; and that
these parts of the county were outside the forest limits accord-
ing to the perambulation and inquisition of Edward I." The
petitioners were not well advised as to the bounds, and had
apparently confused the perambulation of Henry III. with that
of Edward I. This petition met with no favour, for it was
argued, though incorrectly, that the owners had never before
been asked to stint the number of deer, and that it was a
request to Parliament to take away the queen's liberty and
right without her consent. On a copy of this petition still
extant is endorsed :—
" Tis no doubt but that if there were no more than fifty deer in the
whole forest, and if it should happen that they were on any one
particular man's two or three acres of corn or turnips, they would be
sure to lessen his crop; yet he bought the land with the incumbrance,
and it is past all dispute that the queen has as much right to it as any
man has to his own coat."
At this period the forest was no source of profit to the
Crown, but the contrary. £1,000 a year was granted during
Anne's reign to maintain the deer and the new park at Clum-
ber, and to hunt with two huntsmen, forty couple of hounds,
eleven horses, and four grooms; there were four "forest
keepers" at £25 each, and four "deputy purlieu rangers" at
£10 each ; the winter hay for the deer averaged £100 a year.
But from 1683 the area of the forest was being constantly
curtailed ; in that year 1,270 acres, out of the hays of Bilhagh
and the White Lodge, were sold to the Duke of Kingston to
* be enclosed within his park of Thoresby. At the beginning of
the next century about 3,000 acres of the previous open forest
were impaled to protect the deer, under the auspices of the
Duke of Newcastle, who was then keeper ; this was called the
New Park, and is now known as Clumber Park. Between
1789 and 1796 inclusive, Acts were passed for the enclosure
of Arnold Forest, Basford Forest, Sutton in Ashfield, Kirby
220 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
in Ashfield, and Lenton and Radford, whereby 8,248 acres
were brought into cultivation.
When Major Rooke published his interesting Sketch of the
Ancient and Present State of Sherwood Forest, in 1799, the part
of the forest that still remained to the Crown were the hays of
Birkland and Bilhagh, which had a total extent of 1,487 acres.
At that time the ministers of this much restricted forest
were the Duke of Portland, lord warden by letters patent ;
four verderers, Sir F. Molineux, Bart., John Litchfield, E. T.
Gould, and W. Sherbrook, Esquires, elected by the free-
holders for life ; and John Gladwin, Esq., steward, appointed
by the lord chief justice in eyre during pleasure. The office
of bow-bearer had been vacant since the death of Lord Byron.
There were also nine keepers appointed by the verderers
during pleasure, with an annual salary of 2os. each, and two
annually sworn woodwards for Sutton and Carlton. Each of
the verderers received a fee-tree annually out of the king's hays
of Birkland and Bilhagh.
Major Rooke — when writing of the many venerable old oaks
of extraordinary size then standing, several of them measuring
34 feet in circumference, and with tops and lateral branches
rich in foliage, though hollow in their trunks — tells of the
remarkable extent of the woodland as late as the beginning
of the eighteenth century : —
''The Revd. Dr. Wylde, Prebend of Southwell and rector of
St. Nicholas in Nottingham, assured me he had often heard his
father, William Wylde, Esq., of Nettleworth, who died in the year
1780, in the 83rd year of his age, say, that he well remembered one
continued wood from Mansfield to Nottingham."
Major Rooke, in the same pamphlet, gives a remarkable
account, with plates, of the curious discovery of ancient tree
marks or brands that were found cut and stamped in the
bodies of certain trees recently felled in Birkland and Bilhagh,
and which denote the reigning king.
"No. i has hollow or indented letters I and R for James Rex.
No. 2 has the same letters in relief, which filled up the interstices of
the letters in No. i before the piece was split. It is remarkable that
when the bark has been stript off for cutting letters, the wood which
grows over the wound never adheres to that part, but separates of
SHERWOOD FOREST
221
itself when the wood is cut in that direction. The piece No. 3 has the
letters W. M., with a crown for King William and Queen Mary.
No. 4 has the letter I, with an imperfect impression of a blunt
radiated crown, resembling" those represented in old prints on the
head of King John ; another piece, cut out of an oak some years ago,
had the same kind of crown with I. O. and R. for John Rex. The
piece of oak No. i, with the letters I. and R., was about one foot
within the tree and one foot from the centre ; it was cut down in the
year 1786. That with W. M. and a crown was about nine inches
within the tree and three inches from the centre ; cut down in 1786.
) C Wi.ll
LETTERS IN CENTRE OF OAK
The piece marked I, for John, was eighteen inches within the tree
and above a foot from the centre ; cut down in 1791."
In 1834, Earl Manver's woodman felled an oak near Ollerton
Corner, wherein the initials C. R. were found impressed upon
the wood, 15 inches from the surface. It is impossible not to
feel sceptical as to the tree branding of the time of King
• John. The question was discussed, in 1813, in the Beauties
of England and Wales (vol. xii., part 2, pp. 62-3). There are
interesting references to the subject of the permanence of
brands cut on the actual wood of growing trees in Notes and
Queries (iv. Series, vols. ix. and x.).
Though the glories of Sherwood as a royal open forest have
long ago passed away, the noble private parks of Clumber,
222 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Thoresby, Welbeck, Ruffbrd, and Bestwood occupy some of
its choicest portions. They not only include much of the ancient
timber, but they are well stocked with red and fallow deer,
which are in some instances the undoubted descendants of
those that used to roam at will through the forest glades in
mediaeval days.
A book might readily be written on special historic trees
still standing within the bounds of old Sherwood Forest,
particularly on the stretches of old forest at Birkland and
Bilhaugh, and on the less known noble groups of ancient
oaks at Haywood (Plate xxi.), near Blidworth. It is only
possible, however, to offer a brief paragraph on that Methusaleh
of the forest, the Greendale oak, a picture of which, as it
appeared at the end of the eighteenth century, is given as
a frontispiece. In Evelyn's days this famous Welbeck oak
was 33 feet in circumference at the bottom, and the breadth
of the boughs 88 feet. The circumference in 1776 and in
1790 was variously stated at 36 and 35 feet. Having be-
come hollowed through age, the great gap through the centre
was enlarged in 1724 by cutting away the decayed wood to
such a height and width that a carriage and six, with cocked-
hatted coachman on the box, drove through the tree with the
bride of the noble owner. Three horsemen riding abreast
were able to pass through, a feat often accomplished. In
1727 a series of fine folio plates of this tree, including the
passage of the six-horsed coach, were etched on copper by
George Vertue, forming a most rare volume. From the wood
cut out of the opening for the foolish freak of 1724, a beautiful
inlaid cabinet of considerable size was made, which is con-
sidered one of the treasures of Welbeck Abbey. The Green-
dale oak still survives, but only in the form of a shattered
propped-up wreck.
PLATE XXI
; 2
HAYWOOD OAKS, BLIDWORTH
CHAPTER XVII
THE FORESTS OF SHROPSHIRE, WORCESTER,
WARWICK, AND HEREFORD
SHROPSHIRE
ONE of the earliest references to a technical forest in Salop
is of the year 1204, when King John issued his charter
to certify that he " had altogether disafforested his forest
of Brewood in all respects partaining to a forest or foresters ;
wherefore the said forest and the men who dwelt therein and
their heirs were to be disafforested for ever, and quit of the
king and his heirs in all those same respects." This district
and forest of Brewood was partly in Shropshire and partly
in Staffordshire. Notwithstanding, however, the particularly
precise terms of the charter of 1204, the inhabitants of
Brewood were by no means quit of their fickle and lawless
king, for at the forest pleas of 1209, cited by Eyton, the
knights and men of Salop and Stafford living in Brewood
gave the king 100 marks to be for ever disafforested, so
that they of Salop who had hunted or taken beasts in the
Salop park of Brewood might bear their share with those of
Stafford. From this latter date Brewood seems to have
genuinely ceased to be under forest jurisdiction.
But there are other more interesting records in the time
of John as to Salop forests. The chief forest district of this
jtime was that long known as Morf Forest. It took its name
from the Staffordshire village of Morf, where the break
began between that forest and the forest of Kinver. Its
northern boundary, afterwards maintained, was determined by
the river Worf (passing through Worfield) for several miles
before it falls into the Severn a little above Bridgnorth,
and from there it stretched south to its name-village. For
223
224 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
about the first two centuries of the Norman occupation it was
at least eight miles in length and about six in breadth, but it
became curtailed by the forest charter of Henry III., and still
more so in the days of Edward L, and was wholly in the
county of Salop. The bounds are ably dealt with in Eyton's
Salop.
Pleas of the forest were held at Shrewsbury on March i4th,
1209, before Hugh Neville and Peter de Lion. A very
curious case was brought before the justices. A certain
hart entered the bailey of the castle of Bridgnorth through
the postern gate ; the guards took it and carried it into the
castle. When the forest verderers heard the news, they
demanded of Thomas de Erdinton, the sheriff, what had
been done with the hart. He acknowledged the offence, and
promised that his men should come before the justices, and
the town of Bridgnorth was attached for the offence. Thomas
de Erdinton was sheriff of both Salop and Staffordshire
through most of John's reign, and a royal favourite ; the
calling of him to account for such a matter as this by the local
verderers is a proof of the stringency of the forest laws at
that date.
Another interesting case at this eyre is set forth in the
translation given by Mr. Turner, involving the seeking
sanctuary in a church.
"Richard of Holton, Wilkin of Eastlegh, Hulle of Hinton,
and Hulle Roebuck, the Serjeants of the county, found venison
in the house of Hugh le Scot. And Hugh fled to the church ;
and when the foresters and verderers came thither, they
demanded of Hugh whence that venison came. And he
and a certain other person, Roger of Wellington by name,
acknowledged that they had killed a hind from which that
venison came. And he refused to leave the church, but
lingered there for a month ; and afterwards escaped in the
guise of a woman. And he is a fugitive ; and Roger of
Wellington likewise. It is ordered that they be exacted, and
unless they come let them be outlawed."
The sheriff of Salop was ordered, in 1274, to see that all
the venison taken for the king's use in the forest of that
county was forwarded without delay to Westminster, to be
there delivered to the keeper of the king's larder.
THE FOREST OF SHROPSHIRE 225
In the following . year John Fitzhugh, the keeper of the
forest, was instructed to permit Roger de Mortimer or his
men to take three harts for the king's use. In 1277 the same
keeper was instructed to permit the Bishop of St. Asaph to
take all the wood he required for fuel for that year from the
wood of the Wrekin, as the king's gift.
In 1284 the king issued his mandate to the justices and other
forest ministers not to molest the Bishop of Bath and Wells,
as he had the royal licence to take timber in the king's
demesne lands, hays, and woods within the bounds of the
forest of Salop, for the construction of a manor house at Acton
Burnell, his native place. Two years later a still wider and
exceptional licence was granted to Robert the bishop and to
Hugh Burnell, his brother, in consideration of the great
services the bishop had rendered the king from his earliest
years, to fell and take away to his manor great and small
timber, without livery, view, or other impediment in the woods
of Candover, Wolstanton, Frodsley, Hope Bowdler, Corston,
and Rushbury, within the forest bounds.
Space does not suffice to treat further of the forest of Morf,
or, as it was sometimes called, the forest of Bridgnorth, but in
connection with this county, rather than Worcestershire, brief
attention must be given to Bewdley forest, which, under its
more ancient style of Wyre forest, was so vast a district that
it gave its name to a whole county ; for Wyre-ceastre, or
Worcester, was a Roman station in this forest. When the
days of Norman forestry arrived, the primeval state of this
great woodland district had materially changed. Wyre forest
at that period no longer extended in an unbroken sweep along
the Severn to Worcester; but though a portion of its southern
extremity was in Worcestershire, by far the larger part of it
occupied the south of Shropshire. Eyton gives good reasons
for supposing that the Shropshire part of Wyre forest, per-
taining to the great manors of Cleobury and Kinlet, belonged
to the Crown in Saxon days, but that subsequently it went to
William Fitz-Osborn, Earl of Hereford, and then to Ralph
Mortimer. The forest rule that the Mortimers endeavoured
to maintain, together with the persistence in the use of the
term " forest" rather than the chace, point strongly to its being
originally under sovereign rule. The best summary of the
Q
226 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
story of Wyre forest is to be found in Eyton's Shropshire
(iv., 276-9), where he tells us that at the time when Prince
Edward was embarking for Palestine, in 1270, this forest was
fenced for miles to prevent any depredation of the deer in the
adjacent cultivated districts. But Roger de Mortimer took
occasion of his powerful position to enlarge his rights as
though royal, and to level no less than two leagues of this
fence, so as to give free transit to the deer to the great havoc
of the country. Moreover, Mortimer arrogated to himself a
right of free chace, not only in Wyre forest, but in the manor
of his tenants at Kinlet and Baveney, and even in those of the
king's tenants of Stottesden and Bardley, as set forth by the
jurors of Stottesden in the Hundred Rolls of 1274.
The forest of Clee, somewhat further to the north in this
county, also bears witness, by the general maintenance of that
name rather than Clee chase, to its former royal rights. The
attempts of the Cliffords to re-establish therein quasi-royal
forest jurisdiction are also dealt with by Mr. Eyton (v., 196-202).
WORCESTERSHIRE
In early days there was probably no part of England more
generally covered with woodland than the district afterwards
known as Worcestershire. In the Norman time there were
five forest districts within the shire : Wyre, Feckenham,
Ombersley, Horewell, and Malvern.
Of Wyre forest mention has just been made under Shrop-
shire. The Crown maintained certain forest rights over the
Worcestershire or Bewdley part of this ancient forest as late
as the time of Elizabeth, as shown by certificates at the Public
Record Office : " Two'of her majesty's regarders or presserva-
tors of woods in Bewdley Park and Forest of Wyre" received
a warrant in 1587 from the Lord President of Marches for
felling 200 loads of firewood for use at Her Majesty's house
called "Tycknell" ; and six timber trees were to be supplied
for the repair of the west chamber there, called Yew Lodging,
and another one for repairs to the stable. Henry Blount, of
Bewdley, gentleman, was keeper of Bewdley park, and
claimed all the lop and top of these seven timber trees as his
fee. The two regarders, or rather woodwards, reported that
THE FOREST OF WORCESTERSHIRE 227
a hollow timber tree had been set on fire in the park, and that
they appealed to Blount to save it ; he told them to fell it,
which they did, intending it for the lord president, but Blount
seized it. They also reported that no person was allowed to
take out any dead tree, windfall, rootfall, or stub, " unless the
same be first by us vewed and prised and sealed with our
sealinge axe."
Ombersley forest began at the north gate of Worcester and
extended along the banks of the Severn ; it had originally
been part of the great forest of Wyre.
Horewell forest began at the south gate, and extended
along the eastern road to Spetchley and across the Avon.
Both Horewell and Ombersley ceased to be forest districts
under the Forest Charter of Henry III.
Malvern forest, or rather chase, extended from the river
Teme in the north towards Gloucestershire in the south, and
from the Severn to the top of the Malvern Hills. In Nash's
Worcestershire (i., Ixxiv., etc.) there is some interesting in-
formation as to the considerable rights pertaining to the lord
of the free chase of Malvern, which are discussed by Mr.
Turner in his Forest Pleas (cix.-cxiii.), and clearly point to
the district having once been royal forest. For instance, the
dogs of this extensive chase were lawed twice in seven years.
This lawing, locally termed "hombling," differed somewhat
from the method prescribed in true forests by the Forest
Charter. All dogs that could not or would not be drawn
through a strap of eighteen inches and a barley-corn in length
had the further joints of the two middle claws cut away, for
which operation the owner was amerced in the sum of 3^. \d.
Leland, temp. Henry VIII., says: "The Chase of Malvern
is biggar than Wire or Feckingham, and occupieth a great
part of Malverne Hills. Great Malverne and Little Malverne
also is set in the Chase of Malverne. Malverne Chase (as I
hear say) is in length in some places twenty miles." It was
granted by Edward I. to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester,
on his marriage with Jean d'Acres, the king's daughter.
From that date it ceased to be under true forest law, being in
the hands of a subject ; but down to the reign of Charles I.
there were verderers, foresters, and other ministers of the
chase.
228 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
The best account of Malvern Chase is that which appeared
in volume v. of \he Journal of Forestry, by Mr. Edwin Lees.
Feckenham forest, on the east of the county, was of con-
siderable extent. A perambulation of Edward I. shows that it
began at the Foregate, Worcester, passed to Beverburn by
Stowe to Bordesley, round by Evesham to Spetchley, and so
to Sidbury. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it was not
infrequently termed the forest of Worcester. The following
are some of the references to this forest in the Patent and Close
Rolls of Edward I. :—
Pardon was granted in 1290 to the Bishop of Worcester,
John Gifford, Richard Archer, and Hugh de Aston, for a fine
of 500 marks made by the bishop for himself and the others,
for venison and vert trespasses in Feckenham forest. A pardon
was about the same time granted to the prioress of Westwood
for like trespasses. In this year grant was made to Eleanor
the king's consort, who held the forest by Edward's grant, to
hold pleas of vert and other trespasses through her stewards
and bailiffs every six weeks, and to take fines due for the same
to her own use, save pleas of venison and those which
belonged to the regard and agistment of the forest ; also all
attachments of indicted persons and venison trespassers, pro-
vided that all persons indicted of venison were imprisoned at
Feckenham, and then bailed against the next eyre of the
justices. In the same year Walter de Aylesbury was pardoned
all venison trespasses up-to-date, on condition of surrender-
ing his bailiwick in Feckenham forest. A special commission
had been appointed to inquire into the venison and vert
trespasses said to have been committed both by foresters
and other ministers, and this resignation was one of the
results.
Edward II., in 1293, granted for life to James Beauchamp
liberty of hunting with his own dogs, in all the foreign woods
and groves without the great covert of the forest of Feckenham,
the hare, fox, badger, and wildcat whenever he will, save in
the fence month ; provided that he took none of the king's
deer, and did not hunt in the warrens.
Licence was granted in 1294, after inquisition, by John de
Selvestrode, keeper of this forest, to Grimbald Pauncefot, who
was going to Gascony on the king's service, to sell wood to
WARWICK AND HEREFORD 229
the value of 100 marks out of such parts of his wood of Bent-
ley, at the least damage to the forest.
When a perambulation was taken of Feckenham forest in
1300, it was stated there was no forester-of-fee, and no verderer
for that part which was within the county of Warwick.
The king made a considerable sojourn at Feckenham in
April, 1301 ; during that visit he granted a pardon to William
de Stapelhurst for taking a buck in this forest, and carrying it
away.
Feckenham was finally disafforested in 1629.
WARWICKSHIRE
Early references to the forest of Warwickshire seem to apply
to that small part of the Feckenham forest (Worcester-
shire), which extended into the south-west border of the former
county, lying between the river Arrow and the boundary of
the two shires, and which was added to Feckenham in the
reign of John. The perambulation of 1300 states that there
was no forester nor verderer pertaining to the county, and
that at the date of the coronation of Henry II. there was no
forest anywhere in Warwickshire.
The great woodland district of the Forest of Arden is so
closely associated with the north-west of Warwickshire that
unless the technical meaning of forest is borne in mind, the
assertion of the jurors, in the time of Edward I., as to its
absence would seem remarkably strange.
HEREFORDSHIRE
When special forest inquisitions were being held in 1219
and again in 1224, particular instructions were issued with
reference to a detailed regard, and mandates were directed to
the sheriff and others of Herefordshire with reference to the
forest of Hereford. Probably all that was meant by that term
was the south-east portion of the county that was included
within the bounds and purlieus of Dean forest, Gloucester-
shire. A large portion of the hundred of Greytree had been
made forest under Henry II. and John, but this was duly
disafforested by the Forest Charter of Henry III. An entry
23o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
in the register of Bishop Swinfield shows that when the bishop
was at Ross, on a visitation tour, in 1206, his huntsmen killed
a young stag in his chase of Penyard, but a dispute arose
between the bishop's servants and the king's foresters of
Dean, whether the place where the stag was caught was not
within the forest. An inquest was held at Howl Hill, when
the jury declared that it was lawfully caught within the epis-
copal chase.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FORESTS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND
CHARNWOOD FOREST, a hilly district to the north-
west of Leicester, about ten miles in length and six in
breadth, of much natural beauty, at once occurs to
everyone, who knows anything of the Midlands, as the most
attractive part of Leicestershire. But so far as forests techni-
cally termed are concerned — that is, districts subject to
forest laws— Charnwood has little claim to our attention.
Although it so long remained a rough, open tract, there is
no reference to it among the extant forest pleas. From what
is told us in Nichols' county history of Leicester— a wonderful
work for the time (1799) in which it was produced — and by the
more elaborate accounts given in Potter's Charmvood Forest
(1842), it is clear that this district was never in Norman days in
royal hands for the purposes of the chase ; but its privileges
were granted to the Earls of Chester and Leicester and Win-
chester, etc., and their successors, and to the various religious
houses, within its bounds, such as Ulverscroft, Garendon,
and Gracedieu.
On three manors of Charnwood Forest, namely, Whitwick,
Groby, and Sheepshed, swainmote courts were regularly sum-
moned until the beginning of the seventeenth century, a
survival of pre-Norman jurisdiction ; they continued to be
somewhat fitfully held by the owners of these lordships until
about a century ago. The fact of swainmote courts being
found at Charnwood and a few other places in England, which
were not royal forests in historic times, may be taken as a
proof that such districts were royal hunting-grounds in Saxon
days.
The document cited by Burton in his Description of Leices-
231
232 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
tershire (1777), with respect to the disafforesting of Leicester
forest in 29 Henry III., has no reference whatever to Charn-
wood as there asserted.
Mr. Monk, in his Agricultural Report for Leicestershire of
1794, stated that Charnwood forest, containing from 15,000
to 16,000 acres, would prove to be useful and valuable land
if enclosed over three-fourths of its area. After much opposi-
tion from commoners an Act of Inclosure was passed in 1808,
and the final account of claim was signed in 1812.
The forest or wood adjoining the town of Leicester, although
it eventually came to the Crown, was never a royal forest, as
it had no forest courts of any kind. It is named in the Domes-
day Survey of the borough, wherein it is stated that Hereswood
was four miles (leuca) long by one in breadth. This great
wood belonged to the Earls of Leicester, who readily granted
special privileges therein to the burgesses. These rights are
of particular interest, and are fully illustrated in the old
borough records which have been recently ably edited by
Miss Bateson. This great wood or forest was disafforested in
1628, and the deer killed or given away ; but as it was an
earl's forest and not the king's, its history must be here
passed by.
The only true forest — subject, that is, to forest laws — in the
county of Leicester, was a not inconsiderable section of the
eastern portion of the shire that adjoined to Rutland ; and as
Oakham was the centre and usual justice seat of this forest,
the larger part of which was in the smaller county, it some-
times all went by the name of the forest of Rutland, and at
other times as Rutland and Leicester.
The pleas of venison held at Oakham, in March, 1209, were
attended by regarders both of Leicester and Rutland. The
knights of Rutland gave a verdict to the effect that at the
summons of the justices of the forest, all men of Leicestershire
ought to come to the pleas who dwell outside the forest as far
as two leagues. Several cases were heard at this eyre which
pertained to Leicestershire. The entrails and antler of a hart
were found under the mill of Robert, the son of Adam of Skeffi-
ington. The antler was fractured as though done with an axe.
The miller declared he knew nothing about it, but he was
taken into custody until inquiries could be made, and the mill
LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND 233
was taken into the king's hands, because it was so far away
from the town and so near to the covert of the forest.
The township of Knossington was in mercy because they
did not produce those whom they had pledged, namely,
Richard and William, who had been found with bows and
arrows on the road that led to Rockingham.
The two Leicestershire verderers, Robert Langton and
Robert Sampson, were declared in mercy because their
statements contradicted the entries on their rolls.
So far as Rutland was concerned, at the same eyre, their
two verderers were in mercy because " they did not that which
they ought," and two foresters and four verderers were in like
plight for a similar vaguely expressed cause. The town of
Oakham was at mercy for not producing Robert, a servant
of the Earl of Hereford, for whose appearance they were
pledged. The sheriff of Rutland was also liable because he
had not the prisoners who had been delivered to him by the
foresters to guard.
A special inquisition of the forest of Leicester and Rutland
was held at Oakham in 1219. After the great storm of 1222,
separate letters were addressed to the foresters and verderers
of both Leicester and Rutland as to the disposal of the wind-
fall. Hasculf de Hathelakestan was at that time keeper
or warden of this joint forest. The sheriffs of both counties
were warned in 1224 to see that a regard was taken of this
forest. A yet more important and detailed regard was ordered
in 1229.
Forest pleas were held at Oakham in 1256, and again in
June, 1269, f°r tne forest of Rutland, but the proceedings
show that the term included the Leicestershire division. The
principal business that came before the justices on the latter
date were the serious charges of extortion and damage made
against Peter de Neville, the chief forester, and the foresters
and other ministers under him. The verderers, regarders,
and other knights and good men of the two counties, testified
on oath that since the last eyre — which was held thirteen years
before, namely, in 1256 — Peter de Neville had continually
appropriated to himself nuts, mast, and windfall, together
with thorn, hazel, and such-like small vert, and kept dogs and
greyhounds on the unlawful pleas of taking hares, foxes,
234 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
rabbits, and wild cats ; that he had appropriated escape of
beasts, and received fines for hare and rabbit poaching that
ought to have gone to the king ; that he had imprisoned men
and bound them with iron chains for trifling forest trespasses,
and had released them on payment of fines ; that he had taken
twenty-four marks from Richard of Whitchurch for taking
a buck without a warrant, and IOQS. from Henry Murdoch for
his mastiffs that were found following his ploughman to Deep-
dale within the forest ; that he amerced various townships for
offences at his will ; that every year, save the year between the
battles of Lewes and Evesham, he had his piggery and pigs,
sometimes to the number of 300, digging in the forest en-
closure to the great injury of the pasturage of the king's deer;
that he had appointed a forester for the last three years to
guard the road between Stamford bridge and Casterton, on
the outlying part of the forest on the east side, to take chemin-
age for his own use, charging 4^. on every cart carrying wood
or timber from the county of Lincoln to Stamford, an entirely
novel charge ; that he made a gaol of his own at Allexton
(just over the borders in Leicestershire), full of water at the
bottom, and there imprisoned unlawfully many men of his
bailiwick in the county of Rutland, whereas they ought to be
taken to the castle of Oakham. Almost every one of these
and other charges were considered proved by the justices,
the clauses on the rolls where they are stated ending for
the most part with "therefore to judgement with him" (ideo
ad judicium de eo}.
Another charge against Peter de Neville was that he had
increased the number of foresters, and put pages under them,
to the overburdening of the district. It was proved that five
walking foresters, to wit, two for Beaumont bailiwick, two for
Braunston bailiwick, and one in the park of Ridlington,
together with one riding forester with a page, was the full
ancient complement of such officials for the Rutland and
Leicester forest ; the justices made order that this number was
not to be increased.
The whole of this elaborate accusation against the forest
keeper is set forth at length in Turner's Forest Pleas (pp. 43-53),
together with the following recital of the forest bounds (1269)
taken at the same eyre : —
LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND 235
"The perambulation of the forest of Rutland begins from that
place where the old course of the Little Eye flows into the Welland
opposite Cotton ; and from thence along the course of the water of
the Welland up to the boundary between the counties of Lincoln and
Rutland ; by metes and bounds as far as Stumpsden ; and from
thence by metes and bounds as far as Great Casterton bridge ; and
from that bridge along the course of the water of the Gwash as far
as Empingham bridge ; and from that bridge along the course of the
water as far as Stanbridge ; and from Stanbridge through the middle
of the park of Barnsdale as far as Twiford ; and from Twiford along
the course of the water through the middle of the town of Langham;
and from thence as far as the park of Overton, and from thence
between Flitteris and the wood of Knossington as far as the water of
the Gwash, and from thence along the boundaries between the open
field of Braunston and Knossington as far as the Wisp ; and from
thence along the boundaries between the field of Owston and With-
cote as far as the door of the castle of Sauvey, and from thence by
the rivulet which runs down from Sauvey as [far as Harewin's mill ;
and from thence to Coptre, and from Coptre as far as the boundaries
of Finchford ; and from thence by the old course of the Little Eye
into the Welland opposite Cotton."
Space cannot be afforded for following up the story of this
forest in detail, but mention must be made of another eyre
held more than two centuries subsequent to the one first
recorded. By that time this forest of Rutland and Leicester
was usually known as Leighfield Forest, and the justice seat
was at Uppingham. On September loth, 1490, pleas of the
forest were held at that town by Sir John Ratcliffe and Sir
Reginald Gray. Sir Edward Hastings appeared as keeper,
Thomas Sapcote as lieutenant, Robert Rokeby as ranger, and
Christopher Parker as bow-bearer. There were also present the
two foresters of each of the bailiwicks of Braunston and Beau-
mont, and the one forester of Ridlington park, together with
two verderers. The five woodwards who appeared repre-
sented respectively the- prior of Brook, the Bishop of Lincoln
in Stokehern, the Earl of Warwick in Le Haw, Everard
Digby in Stokehern, and Robert Mawes in Wardley wood.
There were also present fourteen regarders, eleven free tenants,
a jury-panel of the king, juries of the hundreds of Martinsley
(Rutland) and Goscote (Leicestershire), and of Oakham Soke,
236 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
together with the reeve and four men from each of the
townships of Ayston, Belton, Braunston, Brooke, Caldon,
Lyddington, Ridlington, Stokeley, Uppingham, and Ward-
ley. It therefore follows that the actual number of local
officials of this comparatively small forest in attendance on the
justices exceeded 250.
The claimants of liberties were the Bishop of Lincoln, the
abbot of Kenilworth, Sir Edward Hastings, Everard Digby,
Maurice Berkeley, John Cheselden, and Robert Mawes. The
Bishop of Lincoln, through William his attorney, stated his
considerable claims of hunting and agistment within the forest,
more particularly with regard to the park of Lyddington and
its deer-leaps.
Among the presentments it was stated that Thomas Parker,
parker of Redlington, and Robert Rokeby, the sub-parker, had
felled three lime trees (Le lynerey trees] worth 6s. 8d. each.
They had also killed, since the last eyre, eight deer when
training their dogs (pro canibus suis ad arcum castigancT).
The master forester or keeper had distributed eight bucks
and ten does among the gentlemen of the district ; eight
bucks and twenty-four raskells had died of murrain.
CHAPTER XIX
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM
THE wealth of unused material in connection with all the
forests of Northamptonshire, particularly with regard to
Rockingham, is so great that it becomes exceedingly
embarrassing to know what is the best method to adopt in
giving a mere outline sketch of the more salient and interest-
ing features of their history. It is much to be hoped that some
capable pen may before long be found to write a monograph
on the forests of this shire. Such a history, if thoroughly
written, would prove more interesting and valuable than that
of any other county, not excluding Hampshire or Essex.
The most important and valuable portion of Mr. Turner's
scholarly work on Select Pleas of the Forest (Selden Society),
is concerned with this county. There is also a good deal that
is of genuine value regarding Rockingham forest in Bridge's
history of the county, and in Baker's later work with regard to
Whittlewood forest ; nor must Mr. Wise's Rockingham Castle
and the Watsons (1891) be omitted from mention ; but practically
their story is as yet unwritten.
The frequent presence of the Norman kings at their castles
of Rockingham and Northampton was one of the chief causes
for the appropriation of such large tracts of this county for
royal forest sport. Apart from parks of early formation, the
largest and chief forest tracts were — (i) Rockingham forest in
the north, which was mainly in the Corby and Willowbrook
hundreds ; (2) Whittlebury forest in the south-east, in the
Cleley, Norton, and Towcester hundreds ; and (3) Salcey
forest, nearer the centre of the county, in the Cleley and
Wimersley hundreds. The whole of the Nassaburgh hundred,
north of Rockingham, was under forest laws in the early
Norman days, but it was disforested in the time of John.
237
238 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
As the Conqueror built Rockingham castle, it is practically
certain that, at the same time, he afforested the district around,
and probably included within its then vast bounds the whole
of the Nassaburgh hundred.
HUNTING COSTUME. FOURTEENTH CENTURY
(See p. 65.)
The earliest known record of forest pleas, which is among
the "Treasury of Receipt Forest Proceedings" of the Public
Record Office, pertains to this county, and has been given in
extenso by Mr. Turner; it relates to the pleas held at Northamp-
ton on 2Oth February, 1209. The proceedings are full of in-
terest. The following are some examples of the cases brought
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 239
before the justices. Roger Grim, the harvestman (messartus,
i.e. the foreman of the harvest labourers) of the abbot of
Peterborough, was caught following four hinds with his dogs ;
he was delivered to the custody of Geoffrey Gilbewin, the
abbot's steward. Geoffrey failed to bring him before the
justices, whereupon the steward himself was delivered to the
custody of the sheriff to be imprisoned. William of Barton
was proved to have falsely and through hatred charged
Stephen de Pin, a clerk, with having feasted upon two fawns ;
the sheriff was ordered to imprison him until levy had been
made for a fine upon his chattels at Barnact. The whole
township of Newton was in mercy because of the flight of
Richard Gelet, their harvestman, accused of shooting a doe
in Nassington wood, for which Henry, the son of Benselin,
was taken. The foresters found a doe with its throat cut in
Nassington wood, and Henry concealed in a bush near by.
They put him in prison, but on his appearing at the forest
pleas, Henry stoutly denied the offence, saying he had only
gone into the wood to seek his horse. Thereupon the justices
inquired of the foresters and verderers whether they now
thought him guilty. They replied in the negative, adding
that they thought Richard the harvestman was the culprit, for
he fled as soon as he heard of Henry being taken. Because
Henry had taken the Cross and is not suspected and had lain
long in prison, the justices granted him that he might make
his pilgrimage, but he was to start before Whitsunday ; if he
lived to return, and could find pledges for his fealty, he might
afterwards remain in the forest.
Thomas Inkel, forester of Cliff, found in the wood of
Siberton a certain place wet with blood, and he traced the
blood in the snow as far as the house of Ralph Red of
Siberton ; and forthwith he sent for the verderers and good men.
They searched his house, and in it they found the flesh of a
•certain doe, and they took Ralph himself and put him in
prison at Northampton, where he died. But before his death,
when he was in prison, he appealed Robert Sturdi of Siberton
and Roger Tock, of the same town, because they were evil-
doers to the forest together with him. The foresters and
verderers searched the house of the aforesaid Robert, and in it
found the bones of deer, and they took him and sent him to
24o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
prison ; also in the house of Roger Tock they found ears and
bones of deer. The latter was taken and imprisoned. Robert
Sturdi came before the justice and said that the dogs of
Walter of Preston used to be kennelled at his house, and that
Walter's hunters ate the venison whence came the bones ; and
Robert vouched the aforesaid Walter to warranty of this,
whereupon Walter is ordered to appear on the morrow.
Walter came and warranted him, saying that his dogs were
kennelled in his house for fifteen days while he was hunting
bucks. Roger Tock also appeared and denied everything ;
and the verderers and foresters witnessed that the ears and
bones were those of the deer which Walter's hunters had
taken. As Roger had lain long in prison, so that he was
nearly dead (quod fere mortuus es£], the justices permitted him
to go quit, but henceforth he was to live outside the forest.
Rockingham forest in the time of Henry III. was divided
into the three divisions or bailiwicks of Rockingham, Brig-
stock, and Cliff (Kingscliff), each of which had its own
ministers. This division lasted until the time of disafforesting.
The keepership of the forest of Rockingham, with Cliff,
Geddington, and Brigstock, was conferred by Henry III. on
Hugh de Neville in June, 1219. In the following month he
was instructed to permit Walter de Preston to hunt these
forests, and others in the county, in order to secure forty
bucks for the royal larder. In the following year the same
huntsman had orders to take twenty bucks in Rockingham
forest, and Richard de Waterville the same number for a like
purpose. In the same year Hugh Bigod had royal permission
to take six bucks in this forest, and others a smaller number.
In September, 1225, the king gave leave to the Bishop of Ely
to have ten bucks and two harts caught for him in the forests
of Essex. But there was so much difficulty and delay in
catching them (apparently alive for stocking purposes)
in Essex, that the order was transferred to Rockingham.
In December of the same year William de Cantilupe obtained
a grant of twenty does and two bucks from this forest for
stocking his park at Aston. The supply of venison must have
been exceptionally good, for at the same time Martin de
Tattishall was permitted to take ten does in Rockingham
forest.
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 241
The Close Rolls of 1228 mention royal grants of seven does ;
of 1229, two bucks and eight does ; and of 1231, six bucks and
seven does.
The orders for wood out of this forest in the time of
Henry III. and later were very scanty in comparison with
other royal forests, and hardly ever included grants to out-
siders ; this seems to be a proof that well-grown timber was a
rarity. In December, 1224, Walter the Miller, warden of
Rockingham bridge, received one of the forest oaks for the
repair of the bridge. In 1226 Hugh de Neville was ordered
by the Crown to supply Ralph de Trubleville with sufficient
timber in a convenient place, and where it would be of least
detriment to the forest, for the repair of a section of the royal
preserve (vivarium} and houses at Brigstock. In the same
year further timber was granted for the repair of the chapel
and other parts of Rockingham castle.
There is an important series of forest inquisitions on Rock-
ingham rolls from 30 to 39 Henry III. From these Mr. Turner
has taken a variety of transcripts. The following is the first
that he cites, giving full and interesting particulars relative to
a serious poaching affray : —
" It happened on Wednesday the morrow of the apostles Phillip and
James, in the thirtieth year of the reign of King Henry, that when
William of Northampton and Roger of Tingewick were on their way
from the pleas of Stanion (within Rockingham forest) to the pleas of
Salcey, they were given to understand that poachers were in the
laund of Benefield with greyhounds for the purpose of doing evil to
the venison of the lord king. And when they had reached the laund
and were waiting there in ambush, James of Thurlbear, forester of
the same bailiwick, and Mathew, his brother, forester in the park of
Brigstock, came with the walking foresters on the order sent by the
aforesaid William of Northampton. And they saw five greyhounds,
of which one was white, another black, the third fallow, a fourth
black covered, hunting beasts, which greyhounds the said William
and Roger took. But the fifth greyhound, which was tawny,
escaped. And when they returned to the forest, after taking the
greyhounds, they lay in ambush and saw five poachers in the lord
king's demesne of Wydehawe, one with a cross-bow and four with
bows and arrows standing at their trees. And when the foresters
perceived them they hailed and pursued them. And the aforesaid
R
242 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
malefactors standing at their trees turned in defence and shot arrows
at the foresters, so that they wounded Mathew, the forester of the
park of Brigstock, with two Welsh arrows, to wit with one arrow
under the left breast, to the depth of one hand slantwise, and with
the second arrow in the left arm to the depth of two fingers, so that
it was despaired of the life of the said Mathew. And the foresters
pursued the aforesaid malefactors so vigorously that they turned and
fled into the thickness of the wood. And the foresters on account of
the darkness could follow them no more. And thereupon an inquisi-
tion was made at Benefield before William of Northampton, then
bailiff of the forest, and the foresters and verderers of the country
on the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross, in the same year, by
four townships neighbouring on the laund of Benefield, to wit, by
Stoke, Carlton, Great Oakley, and Corby.
''Stoke comes, and being sworn says that it knows nothing
thereof except only that the foresters attacked the malefactors with
hue and cry until the darkness of the night came, and that one of the
foresters was wounded. And it does not know whose were the grey-
hounds. Carlton comes, and being sworn says the same. Corby
comes, and being sworn says the same. Great Oakley comes and,
being sworn, says that it saw four men and one tawny greyhound
following them, to wit, one with a crossbow and three with bows
and arrows, and it hailed them and followed them with the foresters
until the darkness of night came, so that on account of the dark-
ness of night and the thickness of the wood it knew not what became
of them."
Pledges were taken of the four townships to appear at the
next pleas. The arrows with which Mathew was wounded
were delivered to Sir Robert Basset and John Lovet, the ver-
derers, and the greyhounds were sent to Sir Robert Passelewe,
then justice of the forest.
Another inquisition of i3th January, 1347, is well worth
giving in full :—
" It happened on the Sunday next after the Epiphany, in the
thirty-first year of the reign of King Henry, that when Maurice de
Meht, who said that he was with Sir Robert Passelewe, passed in
the morning with two horses through the town of Sudborough, he
saw three men carrying a sack. And when he saw them he suspected
them, and followed them as far as the town of Sudborough with his
bow stretched. And when the three men saw him following them, they
threw away the sack and fled. And Maurice took the sack and
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 243
found in it a doe, which had been flayed, and a snare, with which the
beast was taken. And when he had done this he went to the church
of Sudborough, and made known to the whole township what had
happened. And when he had done this he returned again to the
sack, and carried away the skin of the doe. And the township of
Sudborough sent after the verderers and foresters, who came and
found all the things, just as aforesaid. And upon this an inquisition
was made at Sudborough on the Monday next following before the
verderers and foresters of the county by the four neighbouring town-
ships, to wit, Sudborough, Lowick, Brigstock, and Lyveden.
" Sudborough comes and, being sworn, says that Ralph the son of
Mabel of Sudborough was one of those men who fled, and he
delivered that venison to William the son of Henry of Benefield.
And the third was Robert of Grafton, who a short time before was
with Agnes Cornet, and he fled and is not yet found. But the said
Agnes Cornet pledges on her behalf of the said Robert of his being
before the justices of the forest, to wit, Hugh the son of Roger,
and Peter the son of Roger. And the aforesaid Ralph the son of
Mabel, and William the son of Henry, were taken and sent to
Northampton to be imprisoned ; and they were delivered to Sir Alan
of Maidwell, then the sheriff of Northampton.
"The flesh of the doe was given to the lepers of Thrapston. And
the snare with which the said doe was taken was delivered to Robert
the son of Luke of Lyveden, and Ralph the son of Quenyl of the
same town, to keep until the coming of the justices of the forest.
"The township of Sudborough finds pledges of being before the
justices of the forest, because it allowed Maurice de Meht to carry
away the skin of the doe. The chattels of Ralph the son of Mabel
were taken into the hand of the lord king, and appraised by the ver-
derers and foresters at nine shillings, and they were delivered in bail
to Thomas of Grafton, who dwells in Sudborough. Robert of Graf-
ton, the fugitive, and William the son of Henry had no chattels.
Maurice de Meht was not taken because he said that he was with Sir
Robert Passelewe, then justice of the forest."
On the same rolls were entries of the Rockingham venison
given by the lord king. In 1247 these royal gifts included two
bucks for Nicholas de Criel, ten bucks for the Countess of
Leicester, two bucks for Sir Geoffrey Langley, one buck for
Robert de Mares, and ten bucks for Aymar de Lusignan. In
the following year Richard Earl of Cornwall, who held a
general hunting warrant, took deer in the park and without it
244 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
about I5th August, and the same in the following month, on
his return from the north. About August, Sir Simon de
Montfort had twelve bucks out of Rockingham bailiwick of
the king's gift, and at Michaelmas the Bishop of Carlisle had
a present of three bucks. In 1248-9 Henry III. hunted in
person at two different seasons, namely, about the Feast of St.
Katherine (25th November) and about the Feast of St. Peter's
Chains (ist August), taking deer at his pleasure. Among the
royal gifts of 1249 were five live bucks and ten live does
for the Earl of Derby, and eight does for the abbot of West-
minster.
When an archbishop, bishop, earl, or baron passed through
a royal forest, he was entitled, under the Forest Charter of
1217, to take one or two heads of game, but only in the sight
of the forester, and not furtively. Among those who availed
themselves of this privilege about this period were the Bishop of
Lincoln, a hind and a doe, in 1245 ; the abbot of Westminster,
a buck and a buck's prickett, in 1246; Henry, the son of the
Earl of Leicester, a buck's pricket ; the Count d'Aumale a
doe, and the Bishop of Carlisle a buck in 1247.
The pleas of the forest were held on 25th June, 1255, at
Rockingham, before William le Breton, Nicholas de Romsey,
and two other justices in eyre. Ten years had elapsed since
the last eyre, and several cases brought before justices were
about ten years old. About thirty-five cases of venison
trespass were presented and proved. Among the offenders
was Simon the parson of Old, who took a roe in 1249. He
did not appear, and order was sent to the Bishop of Lincoln
to cause him to attend. Before the court rose he was fined in
the heavy sum of £$.
In June, 1254, a deer was taken beneath Rockingham castle
wall by the men of the parson of Easton. The foresters lay
in ambush through the night, and at daybreak they saw three
men and three greyhounds, of whom they took one man and
two greyhounds. The man was sent to prison at Northampton,
and died there. As the men and hounds were with Robert
Bacon, the rector of Easton, order was sent to the bishop to
cause Robert to appear on the loth of July.
The next forest pleas for Rockingham were held in August,
1272, after an interval of seventeen years. The justices were
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 245
Matthew de Colombieres, Nicholas de Romsey, and Reginald
de Acle. The following serious poaching offence, aggravated
by contemptuous action, then came before the justices ; we
venture again to avail ourselves of Mr. Turner's translation:—
"It is presented and proved that Simon the son of William
Tuluse, Richard of Ewyas, the page of William Tuluse, William
of Wootton, Ralph of Drayton, the chaplain at Wootton, Simon
of Hanslope, the page of the aforesaid Simon, Alan the son of Hugh
of Lowick, the woodward of Robert de Nowers of his wood of Bulax,
John Messias of Lowick, Robert Pette of Lowick, Ralph luelhering
of the same town, Robert of Grafton, Henry of Drayton and others
of their company, whose names are to be ascertained, entered the
forest aforesaid on Wednesday, the feast of St. Bartholomew in
the fifty-sixth year, with bows and arrows ; and they were shooting
in the same forest during the whole of the day aforesaid and killed
three deer without warrant, and they cut off the head of a buck and
put it on a stake in the middle of a certain clearing, which is called
Harleruding, placing in the mouth of the aforesaid head a certain
spindle ; and they made the mouth gape towards the sun, in great
contempt of the lord king and of his foresters. And the foresters,
when they were at last perceived by them, hailed them ; and the evil-
doers shot at them against the peace of the lord king. And the
foresters, after raising the hue upon them, fled and could not resist
them. The aforesaid Richard of Ewyas, Alan, Ralph, Robert, and
Henry came ; and being convicted of this they are detained in prison.
And the aforesaid Simon Tuluse and Simon his page did not come ;
therefore an order is sent to the sheriff of Berks that he cause them
to come on Monday next before the feast of the apostles Simon and
Jude. As to the aforesaid William of Wootton an order is given
above. And as to the aforesaid Ralph the chaplain an order is sent
to the Bishop of Lincoln that he cause him to come on the feast
of the apostles Simon and Jude. And the aforesaid Robert Pette and
John Messias are not found ; therefore let them be exacted etc. And
because the aforesaid Alan, the sworn woodward, was an evil-doer
with respect to the venison, therefore, by the assize of the forest, let
the aforesaid wood of Bulax, which he had in custody, be taken into
the hands of the lord king.
"Afterwards an inquisition is held and it is proved by all the
verderers of all the forest of Northampton that Ralph of Heyes the
bailiff of the Earl of Warwick at Hanslope, who has lands at
Binsted near Alton in the county of Southampton, Roger, Ralph
246 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
and Thurstan the sons of John the son of John of Hanslope ; Henry
the son of the parson of Blisworth, William Wolfrich of Wick, the
man of Simon Tuluse, Walter the man of William Tuluse, and Thomas
who was the son of the chaplain of Blisworth, with all the above-
mentioned persons, by the provision, counsel, order, and assent
of William Tuluse entered the forest of Rockingham on the aforesaid
Wednesday the feast of St. Bartholomew and during the two pre-
ceding- days and killed eight deer at least, and a doe, as is aforesaid,
whose head the aforesaid Simon Tuluse cut off and put on a stake.
And the aforesaid Richard of Ewyas put a billet in its throat. And
the venison of the aforesaid eight deer was carried from the forest in
the cart of Ralph luelhering as far as Stanwick ; and it rested there
for one night at the house of Geoffrey Russell, he himself not being
at home, nor knowing anything thereof; and from thence it was
carried to Hanslope to the house of the aforesaid William Tuluse and
Simon his son, who had caused all this to be done ; and there the
aforesaid venison was divided and eaten. And it is proved that while
the aforesaid evil-doers were in the forest obtaining the aforesaid
venison during the three days above mentioned, they were harboured
at the houses of Alan le Gaunter of Cotes and Robert of Lindsay in
Lowick, who were privy to this. And afterwards Robert de Nowers
came and made fine for having his wood again by one mark ; his
pledges were Simon of Waterville and Robert Grenleng. Afterwards
Alan le Gaunter came, and was detained in prison. Afterwards
Henry the son of the parson of Blisworth came and was detained in
prison. And the aforesaid Thomas the son of the chaplain came and
was detained in prison." v
Gifts of Rockingham venison continued to be made by
Edward I. ; it would be tedious to detail them even if there
were abundance of space. The grants of timber were but
rare.
The king often directly interfered to secure the release on
bail of venison trespassers. On 3oth July, 1280, Edward I.
ordered the release of Matilda de Braundeston from imprison-
ment at Rockingham for a venison trespass to twelve main-
pernors to have her before the forest pleas. In the following
year the king instructed his steward or keeper, Richard de
Holbrok, to order an inquisition on oath of foresters, ver-
derers, and others, whether one William Genn, imprisoned at
Rockingham for a trespass in Rutland forest, was guilty
or not, and if not guilty to deliver him to twelve mainpernors
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 247
to produce at the forest pleas if anyone had aught further to
say against him. In the same year the steward had like order to
release on bail another trespass prisoner, unless he had been
used to offend in the forest. In 1282 two prisoners were
released on bail by the king's orders, and in 1283 eleven more
venison trespassers, one of whom, Roger Acle, was a clerk.
A perambulation of 1 286, ordered by Edward I. , bears witness
to the vast extent of the technical forest of Rockingham at that
date ; it extended from the south bridge of Northampton to the
bridge of Stamford, a distance of thirty-three miles, and from
the river Nene on the east to the Welland and the Maidwell
stream on the north-west, yielding an average breadth of
between seven and eight miles. But when Edward I. formally
confirmed the Great Charter in 1299, the forest bounds were
more carefully investigated, and the limits of the 1286 per-
ambulation were a good deal reduced, the new afforesting of
Henry II. in several directions being struck out. The land
that was then disafforested became purlieu.
It may be well to refer to just a few of the many incidents
affecting this forest during the long reign of Edward III.
In 1331, Nicholas, abbot of the Cistercian house of
Pipewell, with two of his monks and another offender, were
imprisoned at Rockingham for trespasses of both vert and
venison ; they obtained letters from Edward III. to the keeper
of the forest to release them on bail until the next eyre
was held. This order had to be strongly repeated, the keeper
being accused of keeping the abbot and others in prison to
satisfy his malice ; eventually they were released on bail in
chancery.
In 1342 the keeper and other ministers of the forest of Rock-
ingham were ordered to permit the provost and chaplains of the
college or chantry of Cotterstock to have the tenths of assarts
and wastes within the forest. In accordance with the king's
letters to them, Edward II. had granted to John Gifford, his
clerk, right of common for all his animals and cattle within the
forest, and subsequently power to assign this grant to the
provost and chaplains of this new foundation. The grant
of the tenths was to cover various newly-made assarts.
The ministers' accounts for 1461-2 show that Robert Roos
had succeeded to the keepership of the castle and forest, on
248 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the death of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. This office was
held on the annual payment to the king of £65 10^., with the
addition of £16 IDS. for the custody of the herbage and pannage
of Brigstock park. The hedging in of sixty acres in the great
park of Brigstock, and of forty acres in the lesser park for hay,
cost 66s. 8d., whilst 2cw. was paid for the carriage of the hay in
winter for the sustenance of the deer ; considerable repairs
were done to the lodges of Brigstock and Benefield.
The accounts of 1437 show that William Prostagne was at
that date constable of Rockingham, keeper of the forest, and
ranger of the bailiwick. Payments were made in the Rocking-
ham bailiwick for rights of sheep-folding, called faldage, from
the different townships ; thus Corby paid jd. a year, Great
Oakley 3^., Little Oakley 2^., and Carlton i2cl. For the
escapement of horses and mares payment was made by the
townships at the rate of 7-r. 4^. a year. The fence month pay-
ments amounted to 9^. 4^., Cottingham and Middleton paying
jointly 3-$-. 4^., Corby 2J., and Great Oakley 2s. The lawing
of dogs was known at this time as houndsilver. The total of
houndsilver was 27^., namely, 6d. for each man having a dog ;
the township of Gretton paid 14^., whilst Corby and Little
Oakley only paid 3-5-. each. The total receipts exceeded .£100,
by far the largest items being the rents for different manors.
For instance, the abbot of Peterborough paid £12 yearly
for the manor of Cottingham. The expenses amounted to
£13 9-r. o\d. The clerk who enrolled the accounts had a wage
of 7-r. 6d., and the parchment used for the accounts and for the
swainmote roll cost 8d.
Pleas of the forest were held at Rockingham on 7th Septem-
ber, 1490, before Sir John Ratcliff and Sir Reginald Gray,
when Thomas Haslewood was sheriff. Juries from the hun-
dreds of Willybrook, Hamfordshoe, Polebrook, Rothwell, and
Corby ; in each case twelve in number were in attendance.
There were also present Viscount John Welles, the master
forester and keeper ; Edmund Malpas, Esq., his lieutenant for
the baily of Rockingham ; Thomas Digby, his lieutenant for
the baily of Brigstock : and John Pylton and William Lynne,
rangers, riding foresters, and agisters for the king.
The full total of the foresters, woodwards, parkers, " pales-
ters," launders, constables, and four-men, and other ministers
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 249
in attendance as officials at this eyre amounted to the consider-
able number of 221.
Those who put in their claims to their respective liberties in
the forest were the abbots of Peterborough, Pipewell, and
Croyland ; the prior of Fineshead ; the prioress of St. Michael
of Stamford; and the master of the College of Fotheringhay ;
together with a variety of claims from lay-folk, mostly of
a small character.
The venison presentments at this court, covering the period
of the first five years of the reign, made by the foresters, ver-
derers, and regarders were considerable, and included the
legal distributions made by the master forester as keeper.
They also presented many others, knights and esquires, for
killing ninety-nine deer, during the same period, with dogs
and bows and arrows contra statutum et assisum foreste ;
probably some of these changes were in the main covered by
some real or imaginary permit or right ; but they are mostly
endorsed on the margin Coram Rege, and must therefore have
been referred for the decision of the ordinary justices of the
Crown. Separate presentments were made, under a different
heading, of eighteen charges of deer-slaying against yeomen
and husbandmen, several of which were by night, and may
be considered as ordinary poaching charges. In all these
cases the sheriff was ordered to apprehend the offenders and to
deliver them at Westminster for trial. There were also certain
charges against the foresters themselves, and in these cases the
offenders were admitted to bail.
In the vert pleas, presentments were also made of the
authorised cases of felling timber for specific purposes, or in
compliance with letters and warrants ; of cases of officials
acting against the assize of the forest with regard to cutting
down trees or clearing coppices, which were referred Coram
Rege ; and also of upwards of fifty cases of the alleged illegal
removal of trees and underwood, etc., by foresters and other
transgressors.
An interesting case of encroachment and enclosure came
before the court. John Zouch had enclosed with "dykes,
quyksettes, and clausures " certain common ground and pas-
ture at Cokendale and Wrenstye adjoining the forest, against
which action the king's tenants and farmers of the lordships of
25o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Brigstock and Stanion within the forest protested. The court
gave judgment in favour of the tenants, and instructed David
Malpas, lieutenant of the forest, to take with him a sufficiency
of the king's servants to cast down, if necessary, the ditches
and hedges, and to see that the tenants had sufficient and
easy ways of approach to the common ; but he was in the first
instance to call upon John Zouch and " such other gentelmen"
as might be concerned in the encroachment, to themselves
remove the fences, and in no case was he to suffer the actually
aggrieved tenants to take part in the work of demolition.
Viscount Welles, as master forester, was entitled to twelve
bucks and twenty-four does annually throughout all the bailies,
and these are all duly entered for each of the five years.
There seem to have been at this period far more deer in the
baily of Cliff than in the other two bailies. John Nightingale,
yeoman, lately deceased, who had been keeper of Cliff park
for a long period, had killed therein 340 deer during the reigns
of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III. The murrain
during the same period had been terribly severe, for 1,400 head
of game had died of disease. In Moorhay and Westhay (in
Cliff baily), during the first five years of Henry VII. 's reign,
the foresters killed twenty deer with dogs and bows and
arrows. Two were allowed to be killed yearly by the foresters
in each of these subdivisions for the training of their young
dogs. In the same two districts of the forest, Viscount Welles
and Sir Grey Wolston, the lieutenant of Cliff, killed in the
first year thirty-one does and fourteen bucks ; in the second
year, twenty-five does and twelve bucks ; in the third, twenty-
nine and thirteen ; in the fourth, twenty-three and sixteen ; and
in the fifth, fifteen and ten. The deaths from murrain during
these five years amounted to 282. During the same period
David Philip, Esquire, who was constable of Fotheringhay
castle, and who had succeeded Nightingale as keeper of
Cliff park, killed five bucks and eight does. The Earl of
Wiltshire killed a buck and a doe ; and 100 died of murrain.
Those killed by David Philip and Lord Welles in Moorhay
and Westhay were for distribution among the county gentle-
men to secure their goodwill — inter generosos patrie pro meliore
securitate et utilitate domini foreste.
Sulehay and Shortwood formed another division of the baily
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 251
of Cliff. During the five years Lord Welles had killed
therein sixteen bucks and twenty-eight does for distribution
among gentlemen, and David Philip five bucks and eight
does for distribution among the inhabitants.
These pleas were largely concerned with vert. John
Nightingale was presented by the regarders as cutting both
wood and underwood in Cliff park, of which he was the
keeper, without due warrant. A like charge was made against
Robert Isham, Esquire ; but in both these cases the proceed-
ings were rendered nugatory through the death of the alleged
offenders. Thomas Scarbrough was charged with carrying
off twelve trees called "stubbes," and David Philip with re-
moving a large number of "spires," a word in use in some
forests to denote upstanding young timber. Philip was also
reported for the removal of many spires in Moorhay and
Westhay and Totenhoe ; but much of the timber that he took
was used in the repair of Fotheringhay castle, for which there
was ancient precedent. Richard Sownd was charged with
felling twelve spires, five other trees, five principal trees called
"bordur" (boundary) trees, and taking twelve loads of under-
wood, all without warrant.
In Rockingham forest, as elsewhere, it was customary to
lop the twigs of the oaks and other trees to afford sustenance
for the deer in the winter. Here it passed under the name
of "derefal wode." The amount depended on the season.
Thus in 1488 Lord Welles had twenty-six loads of derefal
cut in Cliff park, but only sixteen loads in 1489.
In addition to ordinary fuel wood (usually eight loads of
windfall, valued at 8d. a load), each forester had other vert
perquisites. They claimed yearly on the recurrence of the
fence month additional timber in recompense for their extra
trouble. Thus John Wade, forester of Totenhoe, cut down
and removed two stubbs, valued at 5-r., pro le fence stubbe ;
another year he is entered as removing a tree, vocy a fense
stubbe, valued at 2s. 8d. ; and there are like entries for other
foresters.
Special fence timber for foresters occurs in some other
counties, but nowhere save Rockingham have we met with
entries of "fox trees." John Holcot, forester of Moorhay, in
1485, removed a tree called a "foxtre" for his own use, value
252 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
2s., and in the following year he had a stubb of like value
under a similar term. William and Nicholas Smythe, foresters
of Moorhay, had four stubbs called "fence stubbes " and two
stubbs called "fox stubbes." Another entry for a different
part of the forest clears up the difficulty, where record is made
of "fox et varmint trees." It seems obvious that this timber
was a recognition of the foresters' industry in keeping down
the number of foxes and other vermin.
Among incidental references to timber may be mentioned
the felling of spires for the repair of lodges, and for providing
rails round the laund of Moorhay. In 1488, Richard Watkin-
son, forester, felled four stubbs worth 2s. 6d. for the men-at-
arms who were going with the king to northern parts.
The particulars furnished for this eyre by the verderers and
the paid officials of the bailies of Rockingham and Brigstock
are almost as detailed as the return of Cliff baily. The
keeper of Geddington wood had six stubbs allowed yearly for
fuel. As fox and vermin trees, he had received twelve stubbs
during the five years, and ten more as fence stubbs during the
like period. Four trees from this wood were used in the con-
struction of a pinfold. In Fermyng wood, by Lord Welles'
orders, eighty loads of derefal wood were cut in the first year of
Henry VII., and ten loads of fuel wood and one stubb were
taken for his hearth. Robert Johnson, keeper of the wood, and
John Salmon, the ranger, had each a like supply for their
hearths, whilst the deputies each received four loads. There
was a similar return for all the five years.
Amongst a great variety of details pertaining to this eyre
that have to be omitted, there is one that should not be passed
over. It was then put on record that twelve acres of wood
and underwood had been cleared in the coppice of Hamorton
Dale, and the proceeds, together with those of other clearings,
given by Henry VI. to the repairs and rebuilding of the
church of Kingscliff and of the mill of the same town.
A variety of cases that came before the justices at the forest
pleas which opened in September, 1490, showed the prevalent
use of crossbows throughout the district. In 1493 Sir Reginald
Gray held a court at Collyweston for the sole purpose of
restraining their use, at which all crossbow owners were re-
quired to be present and produce recognisances.
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 253
"These be the names of personnes," as is stated on a forest
role, " yt carrie crossebowes within the forest of Rokyngham
of whom Recognisaunce was taken as foloweth." The list is
headed by David Malpas, Esquire, and John Zouche, Esquire,
of Bulwick, followed by twenty-eight more names who are
chiefly described as yeomen. Richard Lownde, of Brigstock,
had two crossbows. The recognisances provided that anyone
found bearing a crossbow within the forest after 8th October,
1493, should be mulcted in the sum of £10 to the Crown for
every such offence, and the weapon forfeited to the lord keeper
of the forest.
Ten years later than this, namely in 1493, a general Act was
passed forbidding the use of a crossbow by any man save
under the king's licence, unless he was lord or had 200 marks
in land. In 1514 a much severer statute was enacted, raising
the property qualification to 300 marks, and imposing a £10
fine for every use of such weapon.
Notwithstanding, however, the registering of crossbows at
Collyweston, this weapon, so much more fatal in comparatively
unskilled hands than the longbow, continued to be used
illicitly. At a court held at Brigstock, on nth September,
1494, before Richard Empson, acting as deputy justice of the
forest by command of Sir Reginald Gray, and which was in
reality an adjournment of the pleas of 1490, there were
several cases presented of the killing of deer (sores and
prickets) with crossbows, particularly in the Little Park.
There is an elaborate account book at the Public Record
Office (96 pp.) of the wood sales and expenses of 1555-6 in
Rockingham and other Northamptonshire forests. The par-
cels of wood sold to different persons out of the woods of
Apethorpe, Bulwick, Oundle, Polbrook, Newton, Fothering-
hay, etc., amounted to .£117 i6s. Hedging was paid for at
the rate of 2s. 8d. the acre ; this was the rate of pay assigned
to Greye and his company for hedging eighteen acres. An
entry like this probably refers to the temporary enclosing with
rails and thorns of a piece of laund for hay for the deer.
£5 4-r. ok/, was expended this year on the repairs required
by the various lodges and launds.
In the same year (2 and 3 Philip and Mary) forest pleas were
held for Rockingham.
254 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
The personal expenses of the justices of the forest eyre on
this occasion are set out in detail : —
"Mr. Attornay and others appoynted to be there" had for
supper at Stamford, on 27th July, 1556, "Chickens ud., rost
muton 17^., pidgeons 5^., bread and ale 3.5-. 6d., taille (teal)
8d., buskyetts and carawayes 5^., and wynne and suker 20^."
On Monday at breakfast they consumed : "Chickens 6d., eggs
and butter 3^., boiled meat iod., a peace of beffe 8d. , a pece more
of befe i2d., rost beefe 6d., a conye 4^., a dishe of pike 3^.,
bread and beare 3^. 4^., wynne and .suker 6d." For dinner on
the same day they had : "Boy lied meate 3^. 4^., vealle 5.$-. 4^.,
lamb 2s. 6d., pigs 2s.6d., befe 2s. 4^., pyes 6s. Sd., roste mout-
ton 3^., rappetes 2s., bakynge of venyson 2od., peper 2s. 8^.,
paist 2s. 6d.j butter 6d., for payns and charges in the dressy ng
of the same 3^. 4^., wynne and suker 7.?., breade and beare
n,?." The same day at supper they began with "pig brothe,"
followed by an abundance of beef, mutton, chickens, and
rabbits, etc.
" Horsemeate for Mr. Attornay his horses for on day and on
nyght " amounted to 14^ ; the sheriff's man received 3^. 4^. for
" settyng upp of a tente for the Judges to sytt in and other Im-
plements for the same " ; two poor men had a shilling each for
fetching two bucks from the sheriff.
The charges for the Justice Seat at Oundle, on July 27th, was
on a higher scale; 40^. 6d. was spent in beer ale, and 39^. 6d. in
wine. The horsemeat of the judges' 32 horses cost 14^. 4^. ;
the horsemeat for Mr. Attornay and the commissioners' horses
cost an additional 18^. Half a mark was spent at Oundle in
setting up benches in the Guildhall for the judges and their
clerk.
On the last day of August of the same year a Justice Seat
was held at Weldon. The eating and drinking was on much
the same scale ; "the swillers in the kytching" cost i6d.
A certificate of the regarders of Rockingham for 1577-8,
presented by Robert Ewarde and Rowland Slade, shows that
wood was sold that year to the value of ,£231 is. 8d. Mention
is made in the sales of "wrassel okes," a term not found by
us in dictionaries, or usually met with in forest accounts ;
it was probably an equivalent for the dotard oaks, or those
whose upper boughs were barkless and withered. The
THE FOREST OF ROCKINGHAM 255
winter store of "derefal" wood is at this date called "dere-
brouse."
In 1638 the chief justice in eyre issued his commission to
Edward Sawyer, of Kettering, Esq., giving him full power and
authority to inquire from time to time of all such persons
as are known and suspected of unlawfully keeping and using
dogs, nets, crossbows, guns, and other engines for the de-
struction of the game in Rockingham forest. He was com-
missioned to employ a constable or head borough to search for
dogs, etc., within five miles of Kettering, and to take into
custody suspected persons and keep them till further in-
structed.
On the last occasion when a great store of venison was
brought to Whitehall, " against Christmas," for Charles I.,
then (1640) on the threshold of his troubles, twenty-four does
came from Rockingham ; this was by far the largest number
out of those supplied by nineteen different forests or parks ; the
only other two that reached double figures were Whittlewood
and New Forest, each of which supplied twelve.
The commissioners appointed by the 1786 Act for inquiring
into the state of woods and forests belonging to the Crown
issued an elaborate report on Rockingham in 1792. It then
consisted, as of old, of the three separate districts or bailiwicks
of Rockingham, Brigstock, and Cliff, each of which were
divided into two or more walks. In Rockingham were Bene-
field Laund, Vert Walk, and the woods of Gretton, Little
Weldon, Weedhaw, Thornhaw, and Corby ; in Brigstock
were the woods of Eddington and Earning ; and in Cliff those
of Westhay, Moorhay, Sulehay, and Shortwood. It is there
stated that all the bailiwicks were formerly under one warden
or master forester, an office granted by James I., in 1603, to
Lord Burleigh for three lives ; but Charles I. abolished
the office, and gave, in 1629, the master forestership of
Rockingham, with Geddington woods, to Edward Lord
Montague, for three lives, and that of Cliff to trustees for
Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland, for three lives. In 1674 the
wardenship of Earning wood was granted to Sir John
Robinson for three lives. The commissioners of 1792 found
that Mr. George Finch Hatton was warden of Rockingham,
the Earl of Ossory of Earning wood, the Earl of Exeter
256 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
of Westhay, and the Earl of Westmoreland of Moorhay,
Sulehay, and Shortwood ; whilst Geddington woods, which
had been disafforested in 1676, had been granted to Lord
Montague and his heirs for ever.
The actual woodlands then included in the forest were
9,482 acres ; namely, Rockingham 3,500, Brigstock 1,400, and
Cliff 4,582 ; but most of them were private, though subject
to certain forest rights and burdens. The number of deer must
have been very considerable, for upwards of 100 bucks and
a larger number of does were annually killed.
The two swainmote courts that used to be held, the one for
Rockingham and Brigstock, and the other for Cliff, had long
since come to an end, together with the whole array of minor
forest ministers, and the forest had remained chiefly under the
care of the hereditary keepers or master foresters. In 1702
it was found that the Crown could claim the oak timber in
Sulehay woods, and over 2,000 trees were sold between 1704
and 1736, yielding a net revenue of £3,623.
The commissioners came to the conclusion that : —
"A forest in a situation so distant from any residence of the royal
family, with an establishment of officers, either granted in perpetuity
or esteemed of little value by those who possess them, and in which
so little of the right to timber has been preserved, can neither con-
tribute much to the amusement of the king, the dignity or profit
of the crown, or the advantage of the public."
They therefore recommended disafforestation, and the sale
to the owners of the wood of any rights to the timber that the
Crown might possess. The commissioners' recommendations
were carried into law by Acts of 1795 and 1/96.
Lack of space compels the entire omission of the accounts
which had been prepared of Salcey and Whittlewood forests
in this county.
CHAPTER XX
THE FOREST OF OXFORDSHIRE
OXFORDSHIRE from the earliest days was exceptionally
well wooded. The whole county was in the main wood-
land down to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. On
the north of Oxford lay the chase of Woodstock, which merged
on the forest of Wychwood to the west ; on the north-east,
near Bicester, was the forest of Bernwood, a considerable
section of which was in this county ; on the east were the
adjacent forests of Shotover and Stowood ; on the south-east
were the wild stretches and dense backwoods of the Chilterns ;
whilst on the south the woods of Cumnor and Bagley com-
pleted the circle. It was doubtless the great preponderance
of hunting ground, at a comparatively short distance from
London, that made this shire so favourite a resort of our
Norman kings. Henry I., in order to secure good accommo-
dation when indulging in the pleasures of the chase, built
himself an important house at Beaumont on the north side of
Oxford, as well as a hunting-lodge at Woodstock. This royal
lodge was surrounded by a park enclosed within a stone wall
seven miles in circuit, and is said to have been the first
English park enclosed with this material. Here, according to
William of Malmesbury, the king established a menagerie of
foreign beasts. "He was extremely fond of the wonders of
distant countries, begging with great delight from foreign
kings, lions, leopards, lynxes, or camels. He had a park
called Woodstock wherein he used to foster favourites of this
kind ; he had placed there also a creature called a porcupine,
sent to him by William of Montpelier."
Camden, writing in Elizabethan days, was much impressed
with "the great store of woods" that covered the hills of
s 257
258 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Oxfordshire ; but Plot, in his Natural History of the county,
written shortly after the Civil War, described it as sadly shorn
during those troublous times of its ancient glory.
Oxfordshire, strange to say, is destitute of a county history,
and the story of its woods and forests is as yet unwritten.
The material for an interesting monograph on this subject
is fairly abundant ; all that can here be attempted is to give a
few facts, for the most part hitherto unchronicled, respecting
the two royal forests of Wychwood and Shotover with Sto-
wood, together with an incidental reference or two to Bern-
wood forest, which lay chiefly in the county of Buckingham.
The Close Rolls of the beginning of Henry III.'s reign
supply a good deal of fragmentary information about the two
forests of Wychwood and Shotover. Thomas de Langley
was at that time master forester-of-fee for Wychwood. In
1216 he received the king's command to permit the abbot
of the Cistercian house of Bruern to take a third load of wood
out of the forest, in addition to the two loads already granted
him. In the following year Langley was instructed to allow
William de Brewere to take ten wild boars and ten trees. In
1218 order was made for the perambulation of the forest, in
order that its ancient bounds might be established and recent
additions disafforested. The Crown interfered in 1221 in
order that there might be due agistment of pigs, and that the
owners of swine within the forest without warrant might be
presented ; these instructions were issued to the verderers,
the forester-of-fee, and the agisters. Wychwood was one
of the royal forests, to the verderers and keepers of which
special orders were sent by letters patent as to the extensive
windfall after the great storm of 1222. Robert Arsic had per-
mission from the Crown in 1223 to hunt the fox and the hare
with hounds throughout the forest of Wychwood. In the
same year Thomas de Langley was instructed to take two
wild boars (porcos silvestres}^ and to transfer them to the royal
park of Havering, in Essex. About the like date the keeper
was ordered to deliver four good dry roers, two of which were
to be suitable for fuel, to the prior of Lanthony. In 1226
Ernald de Bosco was granted two does and a buck, and ten
loads of dry underwood for fuel were bestowed upon the
hospital of St. John Baptist at Burford. Ralph Fitz-Nicholas
THE FOREST OF OXFORDSHIRE 259
obtained three oaks in 1229 towards the building of his houses
at Eston. In the following year Earl Ferrers received fifteen
oaks in aid of his manor house at Stamford, which was then
being rebuilt, and a little later he had a grant of five does
from the same forest.
On yth February of this year, Thomas de Langley, the
forester-of-fee, paid the exceedingly heavy fine of £100 to the
king that he might be quit of the results of forest trespasses,
of which he had been convicted a few days earlier, namely, on
the Feast of the Purification, before John de Monemue and his
associates, justices of the forest pleas, when four acres of land
in Wychwood, given him by King John, had been resumed
by the Crown.
At the time when these pleas were being held, the king
commanded John de Monemue to give to the prior of Cold
Norton ten dry roers for his hearth. Two years later it was
found that the prior had never received this wood, and a re-
newed order to the same effect was issued to Peter de Rivallis,
chief justice of the forests.
About this period a large supply of fuel wood was granted
to the Dominicans of Oxford and to the hospital of St. John
Baptist, Oxford, and five oaks to John de Beauchamp.
The nuns of Godstowe obtained from Henry III., in 1231,
the tithe of all deer taken in this forest, whether by the king
hunting in person or otherwise.
As to Shotover forest, orders were issued to the keeper and
verderers in 1222, to suffer the hospital of St. Bartholomew,
Oxford, to take one hundred horseloads of dry wood for fuel.
In the following year twenty tie-beams (copulas} were ordered
to be supplied out of Shotover forest to William, the chaplain
of the Bishop of Winchester, towards the repair of the church
of St. Budoc, Oxford, beneath the castle ; it had been thrown
down for strategic purposes during the recent war. In the
same year, 1223, the necessary timber for constructing a gaol
at Oxford and for repairing the castle was obtained from
Shotover. In 1229, when Peter Mimekan was bailiff of Shot-
over forest, George de Crancumbe obtained four dry leafless
roers for fuel. In 1230 there was an order which throws a little
light on the vexed question of the nature of the roer or robur ;
at all events, this entry on the Close Rolls seems to show that
260 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
there was a distinct recognition of the difference between robur
and guerctis, even when both were merely intended for fuel pur-
poses. Nicholas de Farnham had had a grant from the Crown
of four roers out of Shotover forest for firing, and on 6th April,
1230, Henry III. ordered that, if this grant had not been
executed, four oaks for fuel (ad focum suum) should be sub-
stituted for the roers. Fuel wood was granted from Shotover
in the same year to the hospital of St. John Baptist at Oxford.
The Bishop of Chichester obtained a grant in the next year of
four dry roers for his hearth at Oxford. Another interesting
grant of 1231 was that of eleven loads of fence timber to Elias,
chaplain of the Earl of Cornwall, to enclose his church of
Horsepath.
On 26th June, 1231, the king, at the instance of Ralph
Archdeacon of Chester, Richard Archdeacon of Leicester,
William de Thany Archdeacon of the East Riding, and of
the Chancellor of Oxford, and the whole University, granted
that Thomas de Compton, Henry de Kinneton, and three
others, who had been found in the forest of Shotover with
bows and arrows, and had for that trespass been arrested and
detained in the king's prison at Oxford, should be set at
liberty, and issued his mandate to the sheriff of Oxford to
that effect.
At a later date in the same year, thirteen Shotover trees
were supplied to the Dominicans of Oxford for fuel purposes.
An eyre for forest pleas was held at Oxford, before William
le Breton and three other itinerant justices, which opened on
24th January, 1256. At this eyre the pleas of the forest of
Wychwood and Shotover were heard, as well as of that part
of the forest of Bernwood which lay in Oxfordshire.
The Close Rolls of Edward I. record various royal gifts from
the Oxfordshire forests. In 1276, Philip Mimekan, keeper of
Shotover, was ordered to supply Sir Francis de Bononia, LL.D.,
with eight oaks and their loppings for his fire ; and at the
same time the keeper of Bernwood received the remarkable
order to supply Sir Francis with two young bucks and four
young does, together with four live hares and six live rabbits,
to be placed in the king's garden at Oxford, in accordance
with a verbal promise made by the king to the doctor. The
keeper of Wychwood was directed, in 1277, to supply both the
THE FOREST OF OXFORDSHIRE 261
Archbishop of Canterbury and the abbot of Bruern with six
roers a piece for fuel. In the following year four bucks were
sent from Shotover, as the king's gift to Bartholomew de
Sutlegh ; in 1279, the abbot of Bruern had twelve oaks with
their strippings, from the wood of Cornbury, in Wychwood
forest.
In 1280, six live does were sent to the Earl of Lincoln from
Wychwood to help to stock his park at Middleton ; and in
1284, eight live does and four bucks were granted to Thomas
de Charlcote towards stocking his park at Hasele. In 1281,
six bucks were given from this forest to the Earl of Warwick ;
in 1282, six bucks apiece to the Bishop of Worcester and to
John Lovel ; and in 1286, twelve more bucks to John Lovel.
From Shotover forest, six bucks were given in 1281 to James
de Ispannia, nephew of Queen Eleanor, the king's consort ; and
six bucks in 1283 to Geoffrey de Lucy. In 1288, James de
Ispannia obtained three bucks from Wychwood, and three
from Bernwood.
Among the timber grants from Wychwood may be men-
tioned fuel trees for the Dominican friars in 1281 ; eighty cart-
loads of brushwood for the king's fuel in 1282 ; fuel trees for
Alphonsus de Ispannia, another of the queen's kinsmen, then
at the schools at Oxford, in 1285 > and timber for the building
of the church of the Carmelite friars at Oxford, in 1286.
The Patent Rolls of Edward I. also supply various incidental
references to the Oxfordshire forest. In 1279, the king par-
doned Walter de Hanborough for taking a buck in Wychwood
forest, on paying a mark as a fine. In 1281, the farm of
this forest, valued at £7 a year, was assigned as part of the
dower of Queen Eleanor, the king's mother. In the same
year there was a commission to deliver Oxford gaol of certain
young scholars, who were in custody there for forest trespasses
in Shotover.
Licence was granted in 1282 to Richard de Wyliamescote,
to hold, during the minority of the heir of Thomas de Lang-
ley, deceased, the custody of the forest of Wychwood.
Mandate was issued to the king's foresters, in 1283, not to
implead Edward Earl of Cornwall, the king's kinsman,
touching thirty-eight bucks, and two harts, lately taken by
him with the king's licence, to wit, in the forest of Wychwood
262 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
seven bucks, in the forest of Shotover and Stowood seven
bucks and two harts, in the forest of Bernwood thirteen
bucks, and in the forest of Whittlewood eleven bucks. Ela,
Countess of Warwick, obtained leave in 1290, to have a cart-
load of dry wood daily, by view of the foresters, out of the
forests of either Wychwood or Bernwood.
Mandate was issued to the sheriff of Oxford on 28th June,
1290, not to molest the Bishop of Winchester, or his minister,
Philip de Hoyvill, and Master William, parson of the church
of Witney, or other ministers of his, under pretext of a former
writ as to venison and assart trespasses in the bishop's chases
of Witney within the precinct of the forest of Wychwood ;. for
at that time those who held the inquest were ignorant of the
king's charter giving the bishop and his ministers licence to
take venison in his chases, and to assart wood within the
metes of the forest.
John de Langley, bailiff of the forest of Wychwood, in
consideration of a fine of twenty marks made by him before
Hugh le Despenser, justice of the forest, in the presence of the
treasurer and barons of the Exchequer, was pardoned in 1305
of all trespasses committed by him in his bailiwick within the
forest ; the bailiwick, which had been taken by the justice into
the king's hands, was at the same time restored to him.
Licence, after inquisition held by Hugh le Despenser, justice
of the forest, and in consideration of a fine of 100 marks, made
by the abbot, was granted in 1307 to the abbey of Eynsham
to hold the woods of Eynsham and Charlbury, within the
forest of Wychwood, and also the wood of Eton within Shot-
over forest, quit of regard, on condition that the venison was
well kept, and the covert of the wood of Eton was not de-
stroyed. The keepers appointed by the abbey were to take
oath not to commit venison offences, and all such trespassers
were to be attached by the king's ministers of the forest.
Did space permit, a great variety of references to foresters-of-
fee, to official appointments, to Crown gifts, and to summons
for regards and forest pleas could be cited throughout the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and at later periods, rela-
tive to the Oxfordshire forests, chiefly from the Patent and
Close Rolls ; but we are not aware of any detailed proceedings
relative to eyres or forest pleas that are extant.
THE FOREST OF OXFORDSHIRE 263
There is a fragment at the Public Record Office relative to
pleas held at Headington on 8th August, 1465, before H.
Bourchier, itinerant forest justice for the forests of Shotover
and Stowood. All that is extant is the claim made by
Sir Edmund Rede to be keeper of these forests, in company
with extensive right and privileges.
In 1468 Edward Hardegill, a Crown yeoman, was appointed
ranger of Wychwood, at a wage of 6d. a day.
Oxfordshire affords a striking example of the attempt to
revive strict forest jurisdiction in the time of Charles I.
A court was held at Headington for the forests of Shotover
and Stowood on Qth June, 1636, before the foresters, verderers,
agisters, regarders, and other ministers of the forest. Henry
Lord Holland was keeper ; Michael Molines, Esquire, lieu-
tenant ; Sir John Crooke, chief ranger ; and Sir Henry Crooke
and Unton Crooke, Esquire, verderers. There were three
foresters, one for the Old Lodge walk in Shotover, one for
the New Lodge walk in Shotover, and the third for Stowood.
Edward Whistler was woodward for the whole forest. The
twelve regarders have all "gen" appended to their names.
There were also present two gentlemen keepers (preservatores),
two agisters, five sub-foresters, two wardens of the coppices,
and two pages. The reeves and four men of eleven neigh-
bouring townships were in attendance as well as a large
number of free tenants.
At the head of the presentments of 1636 appears the
conviction of William Willoughby, shipwright, for having
on 2Oth June felled fifty oaks, each of the value of 20^., and
exposed them for sale contrary to the laws and assize of the
forest ; for this offence the very substantial fine of £2,000 was
imposed. The same delinquent was further presented and
convicted for having, on 23rd June, got up the roots of these
oaks, each valued at 5^. ; for this offence Willoughby was fined
in the further sum of £20. The next presentment and con-
viction was against two husbandmen of Marston, who had
felled and removed an oak tree worth 3^. on June 3rd ; the
fine in this case was £5. Another delinquent was fined 40.?.
for taking an ash worth 6d. The fine for removing three
cartloads of ash, worth 20^., was £10. There were several
fines of 2os. for taking green wood to the value o
264 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Among the venison trespasses, the most serious was that of
Roger Gardiner, who for killing two does and two bucks was
fined £100. For killing a doe with a dog called "a
Maungrell," John Symondes of Headington was fined ^5.
William Willoughby, the much-fined shipwright, incurred a
further fine of £10 for having caught a fawn in a sawpit.
John Wheston was fined in the heavy sum of £20 for netting
hares.
There were also various heavy fines, the lowest being 2cw.,
for agistment trespasses.
In twenty-five cases offenders (one of whom was John
Symondes of Headington) were released at the close of the
court on finding recognisances to appear at the next pleas.
The first of these was Ellis Mercer, husbandman, who found
two sureties, one in £20 and the other in £10 : "The condition
is That if the said Ellis Mercer do appeare at the next Inter
Foreste or Justice Seate for this Forest to bee houlden, and
there make aunsweares to all such matters as on his Majesties
behalf shal bee objected against him and shall not departe
the said Courte without Lycense, and in the meane tyme bee of
good behaviour to his Majesties game Virt and Venison of the
same forest, That then the said Recognisances to bee void,
otherwise be rendyred in full force."
The tenth report of the Commissioners of Woods and
Forests, issued in 1792, is chiefly concerned with the forest
of Wychwood. Its boundaries at that date were the same
as those given at a perambulation taken in October, 1665,
in pursuance of an Act of Parliament of the previous year,
when the forest area was very greatly restricted. The Com-
missioners found the forest enclosed within a stone wall. The
undergrowth, divided into eighteen coppices, enclosed for a
limited time after each cutting, had an area of 1,841 acres ; the
lodges with their launds, 127 acres; and the open ridings,
woods, and unenclosed waste lands 1,741 acres— giving a total
acreage of 3,709. Many of the surrounding parishes and
hamlets had rights of pasture. The offices for the forest
government were a ranger, a launder (to take care of the
launds), four keepers, two verderers, and a woodward. There
were then about a 1,000 head of deer, all fallow; the numbers
annually killed were 61 bucks and 42 does, of which 6 bucks
THE FOREST OF OXFORDSHIRE 265
and 6 does were sent to the king's larder. The red deer had
become extinct about ten years previously. The Duke of
Marlborough was the ranger. The trees were chiefly oak and
ash, with a small admixture of elm, beech, sycamore, lime,
and horse-chestnut. The browse wood cut for the deer in
the winter was in the main of thorn, maple, ash, holly,
and ivy.
At the time of this commission, through jobbery and
recklessness, almost the whole of the fine timber of old
Wychwood forest had disappeared. The Commissioners were
only able to mention 173 oaks as fit for navy purposes. In
1800, when Young rode through the district, he found " many
very beautiful scenes, particularly where the nut fair is held,
a glen by Mr. Dacre's lodge, and others approaching Bland-
ford Park, with vales of the finest turf, but not one very fine
tree of navy oak in a ride of sixteen or seventeen miles."
Wychwood was not finally enclosed until 1862.
CHAPTER XXI
THE FORESTS OF BERKSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
AND HUNTINGDONSHIRE
BERKSHIRE
IT is generally stated that there was never any forest in
Berkshire save that of Windsor, which, with its purlieus,
occupied so large a portion of the eastern section of the
county. But the fact is that almost the whole county was
forest, that is, under forest laws, in the earlier part of
Henry III.'s reign. In 1219, when there was a general
summons of forest ministers for a special inquisition, the
foresters and verderers of the forest of Berkshire were ordered
to meet at Reading. In 1221 the king granted custody of the
forest of Berks to the knights and free tenants residing within
its bounds, up to the date of his coming of age, on condition
of their appointing two knights who were to answer in all
things pertaining to the forest the chief justice of the king's
forests, according to the customary assize, both in vert and
venison, as well as other attachments, and in verderers' pre-
sentments. They were also to see to a regard being taken
every third year. The bounds of the forest of Berks are at
the same time set forth ; they began at Reading at the place
where the Kennet falls into the Thames ; thence almost due
west by the Kennet to the place (above Padworth) where the
Emborne, or Auburn, then spelt "Aleburn," falls into the
Kennet ; thence by the Emborne, which forms the boundary
between Herts and Hants, to Woodhay, and on to Inkpen ;
from Inkpen by a green road to Chilton Foliat ; from Chilton
Foliat along the boundary between Berks and Wilts to the
river " Lenta" ; and thence by the banks of the Lenta to the
place where that stream falls into the Thames ; and thence by
266
FOREST OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 267
the Thames, round the Oxfordshire borders of Berks, back
again to the inflow of the Kennet at Reading.
Maps and records of all kinds have been consulted in vain
in the endeavour to identify the name Lenta ; but it seems
practically certain that it was an early name for the river or
stream long known as the Cole, which forms for several miles
the boundary between Berks and Wilts, passing by Coleshill ;
it falls into the Thames near Inglesham at the extreme north-
west of the county. It thus follows that practically the whole
of Berks was at this time under forest jurisdiction ; for the
part to the east of Reading and the Kennet came within the
forest district of Windsor, or, as it was then occasionally
called, the forest of Oakingham or Wokingham.
All of Berkshire save the Windsor district was soon after-
wards disafforested.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
The western part of the county was occupied by part of the
forest of Bernwood, on the confines of Oxfordshire, whilst
part of the Northamptonshire forests of Whittlewood and
Salcey overlapped its northern boundary. Early in Henry III.'s
reign mention is made on several occasions of the forest of
Buckinghamshire ; but it was evidently the term used for
those parts of the county attached to the forests just named.
King John gave to the canons of the abbey of Nutley the
right to use freely two carts to obtain firewood throughout the
forest of Bernwood between Easter and All Saints, save
during the fence month, and this right was confirmed by
Henry III. in 1228 and in 1230. In 1229 Ralph Briton
obtained the royal licence to hunt with running dogs the hare
and the fox throughout the whole forest bailiwick of Hugh de
Neville, in the counties of Bucks and Northants. The forest
of Brill, though generally known in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries by the separate title, was more usually considered
part of the forest of Bernwood. It was part of the demesnes
of the Crown, and tradition has it that Brill was a residence of
Edward the Confessor. Henry II. held his court here in 1160,
and Henry III. in 1224. Brill forest was well supplied with
fallow deer ; fourteen does from here were amongst the king's
venison gifts in 1229. Out of this forest, in 1231, Henry III.
268 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
gave fourteen dead trees for fuel to the Friars Minor of
Oxford.
Forest pleas were held in 1229, when Bucks was associated
for that purpose with Hunts. In November, 1255, four forest
justices held pleas at Buckingham for the parts of the forests
of Bernwood and Whittlewood which were in that county.
In the following January the same justices were at Oxford,
hearing the pleas for that part of Bernwood which lay in
Oxfordshire, together with the forests of Wychwood and
Shotover.
In August, 1266, as set forth by Mr. Turner in Forest
Pleas, an inquisition was held at Hartley, in Bernwood forest,
concerning the bailiwick of John the son of Nigel, which he
held in that forest by hereditary right, as the king wished to
be certified as to his rights, customs, and services. The jury
certified that he held by hereditary right the bailiwick of this
forest from the Stonyford as far as a certain water, called the
"Burne," running between Steeple Claydon and Padbury ;
and that he had the rights of cheminage, of after pannage, of
all nuts, of dead wood, and of the loppings and roots of all
trees given or sold or taken for his own use by the king. Two
other rights are sufficiently interesting to be set forth in detail.
" He has and he ought of hereditary right to have throughout the
aforesaid bailiwick trees felled by the wind, which is called cablish
(chableiz), and that in the form underwritten, to wit, that if the wind
fells ten trees in one night and one day, the lord king will have them
all ; but if the wind fells less than ten trees in one night and one day,
the aforesaid John the son of Nigel will have them all."
" Also this same John has of right by reason of the same bailiwick
all attachments and issues of attachments made of small thorns, to
wit, of such a thorn as cannot be perforated by an augur (tarrerd)
which is called ' Restnauegar.' '
The last clause of the verdict of this inquest was to the
effect that John had to guard the bailiwick of all the forest
in return for these privileges, and also to make an annual pay-
ment to the king of 40^.
HUNTINGDONSHIRE
In the early Norman days the greater part of Huntingdon-
shire was under forest law, but this was restricted, even in
FOREST OF HUNTINGDONSHIRE 269
Henry II. 's time, to the districts west and north of the county
town, generally known as the forest or forests of Weybridge
and Sapley. Mr. Turner, in Pleas of the Forest (74-9), has
reproduced interesting matter relative to Huntingdonshire
forest inquisitions of the years 1248-53, with regard to
cases of venison trespass presented by the foresters and
verderers of Weybridge and Sapley.
Pleas of the forest were also held in June, 1255, before
William le Breton, Nicholas de Romsey, Geoffrey de Lewk-
nor, and Simon de Thorpe, justices in eyre. The roll of this
eyre is of special interest, and has been reproduced and
translated by Mr. Turner (Pleas of the Forest, 1 1-26). The
following is one of the more striking cases : —
"It is presented by the foresters and verderers that it is proved
by an inquisition of the towns of Alconbury, Weston, Great Stukeley
and Little Stukeley, that a certain Gervais a man of John of Crake-
hall was seen at night in the forest, for the purpose of evil doing with
unknown evil doers, with greyhounds, bows and arrows. And after-
wards the same Gervais was found carrying the harness of his lord,
John of Crakehall, within the court of the granges of the priory of
Huntingdon, and was there taken by the foresters and put in the
prison of Huntingdon. And upon this came Walter, the vicar of the
church of St. Mary of Huntingdon, and other chaplains of the same
town, whose names are not known, and William of Leicester, a
servant of the bishop of Lincoln. And they took the said Gervais
from prison as a clerk, and led him away with them. And now the
same Gervais does not come ; and therefore Master Roger of Raven-
ingham, archdeacon of Huntingdon, who is present, is ordered to
have the said Walter the vicar and the others before the justices on
Sunday etc. At that day came the said Master Roger, and brought
Walter the vicar, who says that when the said Gervais was taken and
imprisoned as aforesaid, he came with his fellow chaplains and
admonished them that they should deliver the same Gervais from
prison, and restore him to holy Church on the ground that he was a
clerk. And the foresters, fearing excommunication, permitted him
to depart and did nothing else. And the said Walter was told that
he took out of prison, and carried away the aforesaid Gervais against
the peace and by force. And, being asked how he wished to acquit
himself, he says that he will not answer in this court ; therefore the
foresters and verderers are asked whether the said Walter and the
others carried away the same Gervais from the prison or whether
270 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the foresters, fearing- an ecclesiastical sentence, of their own will per-
mitted him to depart. They say, that William of Leicester and
Walter and the others came to the foresters with books and candles
meaning- to excommunicate them if they did not deliver the aforesaid
Gervais from prison, and they said they had not power to deliver him.
And then William and the others went to the prison and dragged out
and carried away the same Gervais. And Master Roger comes and
demands the said Walter as his chaplain, and he was delivered
to him convicted of the aforesaid deed. And afterwards comes the
said Gervais; and it is proved by the foresters and verderers, that he
is an evil doer to the venison. And the aforesaid Master Roger
demands him as a clerk ; and he is delivered to him as a manifest
evil doer, and one convicted of this. And because John of Crakehall
harboured this Gervais after that deed, and he still stands by him,
therefore he is in mercy."
Another venison case at this eyre was that of Michael of
Debenham, who killed a buck in a field with an axe, was taken
by the forest steward to the sheriff, and imprisoned at Hunting-
don. The sheriff was called to judgment for the escape, but
he was dead. When Michael escaped from prison, John of
Debenham harboured him, therefore John was in mercy.
Also Richard of Stilton saw Michael kill the buck and did not
raise the hue ; he was attached under pledges, but he is dead.
And because the townships of Yoxley, Folksworth, Stilton,
and Morborne did not make inquisition, therefore they were
in mercy.
There was also a curious case of clerical trespass before the
justices. A chaplain and seven clerks were found on the king's
road in the forest with bows and arrows. They were taken on
suspicion by the foresters before the steward, who retained
them for a time in prison, and then handed them over to the
sheriff, who imprisoned them at Cambridge. Afterwards they
were delivered by the justices in eyre at Huntingdon to the
Bishop of Lincoln, as clerks. Simon of Houghton, then
sheriff, neglected to inform the justices that the clerks were
arrested for an evil deed and trespass, therefore the justices of
1255 pronounced him in mercy ; and the verderer to whom
the bows and arrows were delivered to take them before
the justices was also in mercy because he then had them not.
There were also various other instances of men apprehended
FOREST OF HUNTINGDONSHIRE 271
with greyhounds in the forest ; but the most serious case
before this eyre was that of Richard Weston, a servant of the
abbot of Waltham, and William and Bartholomew Turkil, of
Whittlesey, men of the homage of the prior of Ely, who,
with five other unknown men, took forty roe deer in the marsh
of Kings Delph, on iyth December, 1254, by order of brother
Gervais of Arlesay, of the abbey of Waltham, who harboured
them.
At a swainmote held at Weybridge at Michaelmas, 1451,
before John Collam and Richard Est, verderers, John Ilger,
John Roper, and William Mernyk, foresters, said on their
oath that they had no presentments to make. There was a like
result to the swainmote held at the following Martinmas. In
the following year there was only a single presentment at the
Midsummer swainmote, when a husbandman was convicted of
killing a fawn with a noose (cordulo); whilst at the Michaelmas
swainmote there was again only one presentment, namely, of
another husbandman who had killed a doe with a "curdogge."
The two next swainmotes were virgin sessions. At Michael-
mas, 1454, it was reported, as the sole business, that an
unknown person had killed a fawn with a greyhound. The
swainmote of Midsummer, 1455, affords an instance of a rough
method of night poaching adopted in this forest. Three
husbandmen were convicted of having placed at night a cart-
rope and two small cords above the cartrope in such a position
as to take the wild beasts of the king ; the foresters confiscated
the ropes. The actual words are — unum cartrope cum duobus
cordulis vocatis guarys super eundem cartrope. The word
guarys was probably a local pronunciation of the term gear,
implying small ropes used as a rough kind of harness. A
snare of this kind most likely consisted of a strong rope
stretched near the ground in a deer path to cause the deer to
trip, with nooses suspended above to catch their heads.
At this last swainmote the foresters reported before the
verderers that the beasts of the king (deer) were dying every
day of the murrain, and that about sixty fawns, by a careful
estimate, had been killed by foxes and other vermin since the
previous court which had been held at Martinmas.
On the back of the membrane recording these Weybridge
swainmotes, diverse warrants for the delivery of timber
272 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
addressed in English to the verderers are cited. They were
issued by Richard Devyle, Esquire, supervisor of the forest of
Weybridge, and on the margin is written, "By the Quene."
The following is an example :—
" Welebelovyd, we Wil and charge yowe that on to cure welebelovyd
William Prudde ye delyver a Oak to be takyn within oure forest of
Wabryg of our geft and these oure lettres shal be unto you sufficiant
Warrant geven under oure signet at Wyndesore the xxix day of Juyn
the yere of my lord xxxii."
The like form is used for the delivery of deer. Of the eight
warrants of this year, one was issued immediately by the
queen, and begins " Margarite by the grace of Godde Quene
of Ingland and of Fraunse and lady of Irland, daughter of
the kyng of Sicile and Jerusalem to the kepers of our forest of
Wabryg."
The rolls of the swainmote court held at Weybridge in
Easter term, 1503, include the following memorandum :—
" Md that it is said that there was felled and sold this last yere past
by Gerard Stukeley 400 tymbre trees of the grettist and best that
were in the said forest by what Warrant it is unknowen.
" Also it is said that there was sold the said yere an huge nombre
of loodes of fyrewood about 400 by estimation and without warrant
as is said."
" There had bene gret sale made this yere past in the Forest of
Sapley to the som of Twenty pounds or xxxu by estimation and
rather above.
"Also it is said that there shalbe a sale made in Sapley this yere
next comeyng by the said Gerard withoute a Restraynt be had."
Gerard Stukeley's reply to these charges was to the effect
that the king's lodge of the forest of Weybridge was " ruy-
nous and in grete decay " ; that the verderers assigned 48
trees to him for its repair to the value of .£4 ; that Sir John
Sapcotes, deceased, the late warden, to whom the underwood
belonged by reason of his office, ordered him during his life-
time to cut and dispose of it, which he did to the extent of
under 100 loads; that since the king had been pleased, "at
the speciall instance of the noble pryncesse moder to our seid
sovereigne lord," to appoint him warden of Sapley, he had
FOREST OF HUNTINGDONSHIRE 273
caused the underwood to be felled "accordyng to the auncient
custom there used oute of tyme of mynde."
Information was at the same time laid against John Stukeley,
son of the keeper of Weybridge, that he had felled trees to the
value of £40, without warrant or authority, as well as under-
wood to the value of £20. In his answer, John Stukeley stated
that he had neither felled nor sold any forest trees, save (on
the warrant of Gerard Stukeley) those assigned to himself and
other keepers as their wages and fees, and those required by
the verderers for the repair of the lodge ; and that as to under-
wood he neither felled nor sold any, save "certeyn browsyng-
wode felled for the kinges deer there this last hard wynter for
the salvation of the kinges game there, which said browsyng-
wode belongeth to the master forester as in ryght of hys
office."
CHAPTER XXII
THE FOREST OF DEAN
THE history of this important forest has received far
more attention at the hands of local historians
than has usually been the case with the ancient wastes
of other counties. In Atkyn's Ancient and Present State
of Gloucestershire (1768), it is accounted the third in size of
the forty-eight ancient forests of England, and a fair outline
of its history is given. This account is materially supple-
mented in Rudder's New History of Gloucestershire (1779),
and was further followed up in Bigland's Historical Collections
(1741). The third report (115 folio pages) of the Commis-
sioners of Woods and Forests, 1783-97, is almost wholly given
up to the consideration of Dean Forest. Many of these facts
are to be found in Fosbroke's Record of Gloucestershire
(1807). The Rev. H. G. Nicholls, in 1858, published an
An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Forest of Dean,
which covered 286 pages, and to this he added, in 1863, a
supplementary volume on The Personalities of the forest of
Dean, containing much fresh information.
There is still, however, so large an amount of unused
material extant with regard to the history of this forest, that a
monograph, which promises to be of an exhaustive character,
is now (1905) in course of preparation. All that can be here
attempted is to give a very brief outline of the forest annals,
citing a variety of information that has not hitherto been
published.
The forest of Dean forms a considerable division in the
west of Gloucestershire, and comprises about 30,000 acres
between the rivers Severn and Wye. Of its great dimensions
Michael Drayton thus sings in his Polyolbion : —
274
THE FOREST OF DEAN 275
Queen of forests all that west of Severn lie,
Her broad and bushy top Dean holdeth up so high,
The lesser are not seen, she is so tall and large.
It derives its name from Dean, the old market town of that
name within the forest bounds. The tithes of the forest
venison were granted by Henry I. to the abbey of Gloucester.
Henry II. granted to the abbey of Flaxley, founded in 1140,
the right to have two forges for the making of iron in the
forest, one stationary and the other itinerant. For the feeding
of these forges the abbey was allowed two trees every week.
The keepership of the forest was usually associated with the
custody of the castle of St. Briavel, which is said to have
been built by Milo, Earl of Hereford, in the reign of
Henry I.
The restless King John, as is shown from his itinerary, was
frequently sojourning in the forest between the years 1207 and
1214, doubtless for purposes of the chase; he generally stopped
a day or two both at the abbey of Flaxley and the castle of
St. Briavel during his visits. In February, 1215, when staying
at Maryborough, he directed Hugh de Nevill to permit William
de Cliff to take four hinds in the forest of Dean, and John de
Monmouth and Walter de Lasey three each. In June, 1216,
the king appointed John de Monmouth to the custody of the
castle of St. Briavel and to the keepership of the forest, and
directed the verderers, foresters, and other officials to submit
themselves to him as the king's bailiff. Two months later
John instructed the newly-appointed keeper to find everything
that was necessary for Alberic, his huntsman, with twelve dogs,
two horses, two grooms, and a berner.
On 3oth September, 1216, John wrote from Lincoln to the
constable of St. Briavel, ordering that cattle were only to be
agisted on the fringes of the forest, and not in the forest
itself, nor in those places frequented by the wild boars (porci
silvestres).
The Close Rolls of Henry III. abound in references to this
great Gloucestershire waste, but lack of space prevents the
majority of these cases being cited here.
Boar hunting at this period was sufficiently important for
Henry III. to grant in 1226 a tithe of the boars thus killed to
276 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the abbey of Gloucester. In December of that year the king
was hunting here in person, and he instructed Roger de
Clifford to hand over to the sheriff of Gloucester, for due con-
veyance, five great boars, fifteen hinds, and the rest of the
results of the royal hunt. In the summer of the following
year the king was supplied with ten harts from this forest. In
July, 1231, when John, the huntsman, was taking harts for the
king's use at Dean, he was ordered to dispatch a hart without
delay to Eleanor, the king's cousin. From these and many
later entries it is quite clear that the red deer largely predomi-
nated in Dean forest during the first half of the thirteenth
century, though there was a small admixture of fallow deer ;
but the proportions were reversed before the time Edward I.
came to the throne.
The regulations with regard to the forges of this forest for
iron-making were frequent, stringent, and changeable. The
necessity for limiting them arose from the quantity of fuel they
required. The manor of Cantelupe had early chartered right
to an itinerant forge, and endeavours were made from time to
time to confine its consumption to dry or wind-fallen wood.
In 1228 the king gave orders that there were not to be more
than three itinerant forges worked by the royal servants. In
the following year the abbot of Faxley was ordered to confine
his itinerant forge to the thorn thickets (spissitudinibus} on
the confines of the forest. So much difficulty arose from the
abbey's insistence on its old chartered rights to two forges,
that in 1244 the Crown compromised the matter by the hand-
some grant of 872 acres of woodland in exchange for the
charter's surrender.
In 1225 Henry III. granted a recluse, or hermit, named
Panye de Lench, four acres of land in the forest and two oaks
wherewith to build himself a house.
It is stated in Nicholls' history of this forest that the first re-
corded perambulation took place in the reign of Edward I.,
but this is an error. A perambulation was undertaken by an
inquest of twelve knights in 1228, with the result that the
bounds were declared to be the same as in the days of
Henry II. The forest occupied the whole peninsula ground
between the Wye and the Severn, proceeding north-east as
far as Newent, and north as far as Ross, save that the Bishop
THE FOREST OF DEAN 277
of Hereford had a chase in the wood of Laxpeniard, and the
Earl Marshal a warren at Tudenham.
Forest pleas were held in 1258 and again in 1270. The next
eyre was in 10 Edward I., when the bounds of 28 Henry III.
were confirmed. At that date there were nine bailiwicks in the
forest, each under the charge of an hereditary forester-in-fee,
and all subordinate to the constable of St. Briavel, who was the
keeper, or master forester, of the whole. He also had the
special charge of the tenth bailiwick of Rywardyn. The nine
other bailiwicks and their respective foresters were Abbenhalle,
under Ralph de Abbenhalle ; Blakeney, under Walter de
Astune ; Bleythe, under Ralph Hatheway ; Berse, under
William Wodeard ; Bicknoure, under Cecilia de Michegros ;
the Lea, under Nicholas de Lacu ; Great Dean, then in the
hands of the king ; Little Dean, under Ralph de Abbenhalle ;
and Stauntene, under Richard de la More. The verderers were
four in number, and elected, as elsewhere, by the freeholders
for life, but removable by the Crown.
Of these pleas of the forest of Dean, which were held at
Gloucester in the octave of St. Hilary, 1282, before Luke de
Thany, Adam Gurdun, Richard de Crepping, and Peter de
Lench, justices, exceptionally long details are extant. The
first membrane is taken up with twenty-seven essoins de morte,
established in each case by the appearance of the heir, near
relative, or some other responsible person; and with the names
of fifty-eight persons who surrendered themselves on the first
day of the session for venison trespasses, ten for vert tres-
passes, and two for heath-burning. Fines, varying from
\2.d. to 40^. were imposed on upwards of seventy persons for
non-appearance. Among the vert presentments were charges
of taking timber for sale by boat to Bristol, and a few cases of
charcoal burning.
The presentments of venison trespasses were very numerous;
they cover both sides of eight long membranes. They are
arranged chronologically, beginning in 1271, after the last
eyre, when the Earl of Warwick was keeper of the forest, and
continuing through the keepership of Philip Wyther and
Walter de Snape up to the year of the eyre.
The great majority of the cases are concerned with fallow
deer, but in a few cases the killing of red deer, and in two
278 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
instances roe deer are recorded. Boats on the river were much
used by venison as well as vert trespassers.
The regard of the forest, which had been taken in prepara-
tion for the eyre, is set forth in great detail on six membranes
— the old and new assarts, the old and new purprestures, and
the survey and destruction of woods. In the last case it was
presented that the wood of chestnuts had much deteriorated
since the last eyre, through the bad custody of Ralph Abben-
hall, the forester-in-fee of the baily of Abbenh^.11. The re-
garders found there thirty-four stumps of chestnuts that had
recently been felled, of which Roger de Clifford, the justice,
had had two for making tables. A wood of sweet chestnuts
was a great rarity in England, and evidently much prized.
When Henry II. founded Flaxley abbey, he gave the monks the
tithes of the chestnuts of Dean. The old name for Flaxley, as
mentioned in the foundation charter, was the valley of Castiard,
a place-name probably derived from the presence of the chest-
nut trees. The vert presentments of this eyre show that the
chestnut, from its rarity, was about three times the value of the
oak, namely, 8s. a tree.
The regarders also reported as to the boats owned by the
tenants, which were so often used for the illegal exporting of
wood and timber. The regarders estimated the damage done
to the king by each boat in sums varying from half a mark to
forty shillings. These sums, with a usual additional fine of
i2d., were exacted by the justices.
This highly interesting roll of forest pleas, one of the
fullest extant, which specially deserves being printed in extenso,
concludes with long lists of mainpernors or the givers of bail,
and with statements of claims to liberties and the names of the
attorneys by whom they were supported.
At the time of this eyre there were found to be, according to
Nicholls, no fewer than seventy-two of the itinerary or movable
forges within the forest ; the Crown received for licensing them
7-r. each a year.
Mr. Nicholls has printed much concerning the receipts and
expenditure of this Crown forest, from the Pipe Rolls of 1130
downwards, and this could easily be supplemented by further
particulars, especially of the reign of Edward II. Throughout
the fourteenth century the forest of Dean was frequently called
THE FOREST OF DEAN 279
upon to furnish considerable contingents of archers and
miners to serve in the wars with Scotland and France. In
1316 the men of the forest also took a prominent part in the
suppression of Welsh disturbances. Three commissioners of
array were appointed in February for the purpose of raising
a force of 1,000 foot soldiers in the forest of Dean and else-
where in the county of Gloucester, who were to be marched,
at the king's wages, against Llewellyn Bren and his followers.
In 1316, tithes to the value of £10 issuing from the iron
mines in the parish of Newland were granted to the Bishop of
Llandaff ; but this assignment met with great opposition at the
hands of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford, who sent their
servants to use forcible resistance. In the following reign this
dispute was settled in favour of the bishop, who also obtained
the great tithes of Newland and the advowson of the vicarage.
In 1324 the Earl of Pembroke was ordered to cause his minis-
ters to desist from hindering the abbot of Gloucester from fell-
ing wood for his houses and for fuel in the woods of Bride-
wode and Hopemaloysel within the forest bounds, as he held
an ancient chartered privilege.
Edward III., in 1329, granted to Guy de Brien, the farmer
and keeper of the forest, the cutting of all the underwood, to
find wages for four foresters. In the same year Gilbert Talbot
was licensed to impark and hold in fee-simple a plot called
Haygrove, parcel of his manor of Lynton, Herefordshire,
containing one hundred acres of land and fifteen acres of wood,
which was within the metes of the forest in the time of
Edward II., but had by perambulation been then placed out-
side the forest.
Notwithstanding their bravery and skill as soldiers, the
inhabitants of some parts of the forest had an evil reputation
as wreckers. Thus in 1344 a special commission was issued to
deal with the persons who had attacked a ship of Majorca,
laden with goods and wares, which had been driven ashore by
stress of weather in the parts of the forest of Dean, and had
plundered the master and mariners of the ship and others
deputed to guard the goods, and this at a time when the king
had entered into truces with his adversaries on every side.
Richard III., in 1391, granted the castle of St. Briavel and
the forest of Dean, to the value of £80 a year, with assarts,
28o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
purprestures, rents, advowsons, liberties, etc., to his uncle
Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in part satisfaction of the sum of
£1,000 a year granted to him to maintain his ducal rank.
In the days of Henry VI. the character of the miners and
tenants of the forest had grown worse. The men of Tewkes-
bury, in a petition to Parliament of 1430, charged them with
attacking their vessels, by which they conveyed goods down
the river to Bristol, " with great ryot and strengthe in manner
of warre," despoiling them of their merchandise and their
wheat, malt, and flour, sinking their boats and drowning those
who resisted them.
The Crown was continuously appointing, during the latter
part of the fifteenth century, to various offices in this forest, the
duties of which were generally discharged by deputy, or grant-
ing charges on the receipts to their servants. Thus in 1480,
Edward IV. granted to Robert Mutton, "gentilman," the
office of porter of St. Brivel and receiver of the forest of Dean ;
to William Sclatter, the king's servant, in 1481, the parkership
of Whightmede park and 4^. daily from the forest issues ; and
to John Grenehill, one of the Crown yeomen, in the same year,
6d. daily from the issues of the king's mines. Richard III.,
in 1484-5, granted to George Hyett the office of riding forester,
together with that of "ale cunner" in the parish of Newland ;
and to John Peke the life office of one of the rangerships.
The suppression of the monasteries brought about much con-
fusion in this and other forests. Dean forest was more
especially effected by the dissolution of the abbeys of Flaxley
and Tintern. The Kingstons, father and son, to whom much
of the monastic properties and forest privileges were granted,
were insistent on their rights, but failed to discharge the
obligations that had been fulfilled by the religious houses.
It has been stated both by Fuller and Evelyn that the
Spaniards so fully recognised the great value of Dean forest,
as supplying the best timber for England's navy, that special
instructions were given to the admirals of the Armada, to
accomplish the devastation of these woods, even if they were
not able to subdue the nation and make good their conquest.
A grant was made to William Earl of Pembroke, in 1611, of
the castle of St. Briavel and of the forest, with all its appurte-
nances, save the timber, for forty years at a rental of .£83 13$. <\d.
THE FOREST OF DEAN 281
A survey of 1638 returned that the forest contained 105,557
trees, containing 61,928 tons of timber, in addition to 153,209
cords of underwood. An entire sale was thereupon made by
the Crown to Sir John Wintour of all woods, mines, quarries,
etc., within the forest in consideration of £106,000, to be paid
by instalments, and a fee-farm rent of £1,950 i2s. 8d. for ever.
The commissioners and commoners agreed at this time to the
disafforesting and enclosure of 18,000 acres.
Sir John Wintour, on entering into possession, made many
enclosures, and grubbed up much timber and underwood ; but
the outbreak of the Civil War checked his proceedings, and the
inhabitants threw down all the enclosures. For a time it
seemed as if general lawlessness would bring about the
destruction of all the woods, but Cromwell and the Parliament
took vigorous measures for their preservation in 1648. An
Act was passed in 1656 by which Wintour's grant was declared
void, and the whole forest was vested in the Protector for the
use of the Commonwealth.
At the Restoration, however, Wintour again entered into
possession, and began to re-enclose. The inhabitants offered
strenuous resistance, and the matter was referred to a com-
mission to survey and report. It was found that there were
25,929 oaks and 4,204 beeches, " as good timber as any in the
world." A new treaty was entered into with Wintour in 1661,
by which he surrendered his former patent, and agreed to
preserve 11,335 tons °f shipping timber. It was, however,
reported to the House in 1663 that Wintour had 500 cutters at
work, and that the woods would all speedily disappear unless
there was further interference. The work of destruction went
merrily on until 1668, when it was decided by Act of Parliament
that 11,000 acres might be enclosed by the Crown; that all
the wood and timber on the remaining 13,000 acres was to be
vested absolutely in the Crown and reafforested ; that the deer
*on that waste were never to exceed 800 ; and that the winter
heyning and fence month, when no kind of cattle were to be
agisted, was to extend from St. Martin's Day to St. George's
Day in April, and for fifteen days before and fifteen days after
Midsummer.
Into the question of the pulling down of the king's iron
works in the forest, in 1674, and the establishment and con-
282 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
tinuance of the Mine Law Court, space prohibits us to enter.
The more recent development of coal and iron industries in
this beautiful district is also foreign to our purpose.
As to the deer, which seem to have been almost entirely
fallow after the Restoration, they became much reduced in
number by the end of the eighteenth century, although a most
elaborate and costly staff of forest officials were maintained.
The commission of 1788 found that there was a warden, six
deputy wardens, four verderers, a steward of the swainmote
court (which never sat), nine foresters-in-fee, nine woodwards,
and six keepers ! Mr. Charles Edwin, chief forester-of-fee and
bowbearer, told the commissioners that he was entitled to the
right shoulder of all bucks and does killed in the forest, and
to ten fee-bucks and ten fee-does annually ; and that as bow-
bearer it was his duty to attend the king with bow and arrow
and with six men clothed in green whenever His Majesty
might be pleased to hunt in the forest. But though receiving
all his venison perquisites, this chief forester-of-fee was so
ignorant of any corresponding duties, that he could not tell
the commissioners the number of deer or anything as to
venison warrants executed in the forest. From the six keepers
the commissioners gained the vague information that they
believed there were about 500 " of all sort" in the forest.
The deer were finally all destroyed or removed from the forest
in 1850, as the result of Lord Duncan's committee of the
previous year, to the number of about 150 bucks and 300
does. The general feeling at that time was that their presence
had a demoralising effect as an inducement to poaching.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE FOREST OF ESSEX
A "/THOUGH the forest of Essex was one of the most im-
portant in England, not only in extent, but in con-
sequence of its nearness to the metropolis, the chapter
concerning it will be about the briefest in the book. The
reason for this is that Mr. Fisher, in 1887, published a learned
and almost exhaustive work on The Forest of Essex, based
on researches among a great variety of original documents
and authorities. Moreover, Mr. E. N. Buxton has written a
most admirable handbook to that " superb fragment of natural
forest," of which under its new rule he is the verderer — the
forest of Epping.
The forest of Essex was known from the beginning of the
fourteenth century as the forest of Waltham. It is only in
comparatively modern days that it has taken its name — now
that its area is so much more restricted — from the little town
of Epping. It was the custom in this county not only to call
the whole forest by the names of principal places, such as
Waltham and afterwards Epping, but also to write of the out-
lying parts, such as Kingswood, Writtle, and Hatfield, as
well as integral portions such as Theydon, Loughton, Ching-
ford, Havering, and Hainault, as though they were indepen-
dent forests. But they were all ancient Crown demesnes,
under the same forest regulations, and administered by the
same chief officers. The whole, as late as Henry III.'s reign,
was, more usually, rightly spoken of as the forest of Essex.
The whole county was brought under forest law, save per-
haps a portion on the north-west beyond the great Roman
road, by the Conqueror and his immediate successors. A
small amount of disafforesting was carried out by Henry II.
283
284 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
and by John. The perambulations of Essex forests, a neces-
sary sequel of the Forest Charter of 1217, were completed in
1225, and the result was that about three-fourths of the county
were ruled to be outside forest jurisdiction, because it had been
formally afforested after the coronation of Henry II. in 1154.
The part that remained forest was in the south-west corner,
round Waltham and Romford, with the adjacent Crown
demesne of Havering. However, Henry III. audaciously
upset this disafforesting in 1228, alleging that the perambulat-
ing knights had blundered, the disafforested parts being old
forest of the time of Henry I., which had lost its rights in the
disturbances of Stephen's days, and had been only restored
as forest by Henry II. The group of Essex venison inquisi-
tions for 1238-40 (the earliest extant of any county), cited by
Mr. Turner in Forest Pleas, show that forest law was then in
active operation even in extreme parts of the county north of
Colchester, on the borders of Suffolk.
Various perambulations were made in the time of Edward I.
confirming the extended area ; but in 1300, when he was sore
pressed for money, the commons made a fresh and definite
perambulation of the forests a condition of their grant. The
result of the 1301 examination of forest boundaries and their
authorities was on broad lines the same as that of 1225. The
forest area was restricted to the Waltham and Havering corner
of the county, with the addition of the vills, or small districts
immediately round the towns of Colchester, Writtle, Hatfield
Regis, and Felsted, as they were all ancient royal demesne.
In 1630 boundaries were again laid down which practically
agreed with those of 1301. Four years later much indignation
was aroused by the Crown officials attempting to raise money
by extending the area of Waltham forest. Failing in this, an
attempt, also futile, was made to secure its disafforestation
and sale. This resulted in an Act being passed, during the
first session of the Long Parliament, to fix the boundaries,
and a perambulation showed that Waltham forest comprised
about 60,000 acres.
The chief duty of the reeves of the forest parishes was to
mark the cattle of their respective parishes which were entitled
to forest agistment with a special brand. The mark consisted
of a letter surmounted by a crown, the letters running con-
A- Wattham Holy Cross E - Epping C - Chingford
K — Barking K— Barking H "~ ChigwelL
(Maypole). (Crooked Billet)-
\--Dagenham Q-JYatthamslom Q~ Wan stead
CATTLE BRANDS. ESSEX FOREST
286 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
secutively from A to R. Many of the old branding irons, with
letters about eight inches high, are still extant, and impres-
sions are given in Mr. Fisher's volume, from which those on
the accompanying illustration are taken.
The machinery of the forest laws, so far as the local courts
were concerned, was maintained with some measure of strict-
ness far later in Waltham forest than elsewhere in the king-
dom. It was in active operation until nearly the end of the
eighteenth century, and was certainly effective in preventing
encroachments.
In 1812 Mr. Wellesley Pole (afterwards Lord Mornington)
became hereditary lord warden in right of his wife. This
gentleman, as Mr. Buxton puts it, "saw that more profit was
to be made in breaking his trust than in keeping it"; he refused
to support the authority of the verderers, and did all in his
power to bring the forest laws and customs into contempt.
Finally, he sold the rights he was appointed to guard.
In the middle of last century wholesale enclosures began,
resulting in the complete destruction of the woodlands of
Hainault in 1851 and its conversion into arable land. A
manufacturer of steam ploughs entered into a contract to clear
the land. Attaching anchors to the roots of the old oaks,
including the Fairlop Oak of ancient memory, he completed
the whole operation in six weeks. This ruthless action began
to bring about a reaction, and after a legal contest, extending
over fifteen years, in which the Corporation of the City of
London played a great part, the preservation of 5,500 acres
of Epping Forest was secured for the enjoyment of the public.
The victory was won in 1874, anc^ tne management of the forest
vested in a committee, consisting of twelve members of the
Court of Common Council and four verderers ; the latter have
to be resident within the forest, and are elected by the com-
moners.
For full particulars as to the history of the deer of this forest, of
the woods and wood's rights — especially of lopping, which was
practised more in Essex than elsewhere — of the pasture and
pannage customs, of the enclosures and encroachments, and of
the verderers, foresters, and king's woodwards, the reader
is referred to Mr. Fisher's comprehensive work.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE FOREST OF WINDSOR
THE forest of Windsor was at one time of immense extent,
having a circumference of about 120 miles. It included
a part of Buckinghamshire, a small portion of Middlesex,
the south-east side of Berkshire as far as Hungerford, and
a very large part of Surrey. In the early part of its history
almost the whole of Surrey was technically within the bounds
of Windsor forest, and subject to forest law ; whilst for several
centuries the rights of Windsor forest on the Surrey side
included Cobham and Chertsey, and extended along the side
of the Wey as far as Guildford. But it gradually dwindled in
extent through encroachments and grants, so that when
Norden made his detailed survey in the time of James I., the
circuit, exclusive of the Buckingham liberties, was only
77| miles. At the time of its enclosure in 1813, the circuit had
been still further reduced to 56 miles.
There is a noteworthy reference in the Close Rolls at the end
of John's reign to the deer of this great forest. On gth January,
1215, the king gave orders for no fewer than sixty-four deer to
be supplied out of Windsor forest for the great feast at the
consecration of the bishop-elect of Coventry. This feast took
place at Reading, for William Cornhill was consecrated Bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield, and Richard le Poor Bishop of
.Chichester, on 25th January, in the infirmary chapel of the
Benedictine abbey of that town.
The references to royal grants made by Henry III. out
of Windsor forest are numerous and interesting, but for these
search must be made in the printed calendars of both Close
and Patent Rolls.
The grants of timber in Henry III.'s reign out of Windsor
287
288 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
forest were not nearly so numerous as those from royal forests
in Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, or Essex ; in
fact, there were exceptionally large tracts of open common and
waste in this widespread forest district, where even bushes were
exceptional. The donations that were made were chiefly to the
religious, to the friars of Oxford, Reading, and London, to
the abbeys of Chertsey and Westminster, to the priories of
Ankirk and Merton, and particularly to the nunnery of Brom-
hall, within the forest.
Among the more interesting grants of timber for specific
purposes are those relative to ships and boats. In 1221 a grant
of beechwood was made to William Earl of Salisbury for
building a ship ; the trees selected were to be those growing
near the banks of the Thames, as the timber was to be taken
down to London. The constable of Windsor was directed, in
1224, to supply the chaplain of the chapel of St. Mary of
Faversham with timber for making a boat (batellum) so that
poor people and others might be able to cross the Thames
to Faversham and back. Again, at a little later date, a good
oak was supplied wherewith to make a boat for the conveyance
of poor folk over the water of Cavresham.
The ancient mitred abbey of Chertsey, founded in the
seventh century, had many liberties and rights within this
forest, particularly on the Surrey side. William II. granted
the abbey leave to take wood for their necessary uses out
of the Surrey forests, and to hunt therein hare and fox.
Henry II., in a further charter, added to this general free
warren liberty to hunt the wild cat and to take pheasants,
to impale parks at Ebisham and Coveham, to have all the game
in them free from molestation by the king's foresters, and that
none of the forest justices or other ministers were to disturb
them in their four manors of Chertsey, Egham, Thorpe, and
Chobham, or even to enter therein. The venison privileges
were limited by charter of Richard I. and John, but their
manorial powers were increased.
The pleas of the forest were held at Guildford in 1256, but
the earliest eyre within Windsor forest of which there are any
details was that held at Guildford on 8th July, 1270, before
Justices Roger de Clifford, Matthew de Colombieres, Nicholas
de Romsey, and Reginald de Acle. It was then presented
THE FOREST OF WINDSOR 289
and proved by the verderers and by twenty-four good men of
the town of Guildford and its vicinity, as well as by many
sworn townships, that Walter Walerund, William his brother,
and three others who were all dead, as well as Thomas de
Bois, a survivor, were all habitual evildoers to the venison
of the king and to his conies in Guildford park ; that some-
times they were harboured at the house of Alan de Slyfield,
and sometimes at the house of John atte Hook, who were privy
to their offences ; and that all these persons, on Whitsunday,
1267, took in the park, without warrant, a buck, a doe, and
thirteen conies, and that Robert de Ford was their harbourer
and privy to it. Ralph, Alan, and John appeared, and were
convicted and imprisoned. The sheriff was ordered to produce
Thomas and Robert at the court on i8th July. When Thomas
de Bois appeared he was imprisoned, but before the pleas were
ended he was released on payment of a mark. Ralph, Alan,
and John were also released on payment of half a mark. The
next presentment was against five persons who entered the
same park on 22nd July, 1263, with bow and arrows and grey-
hounds, to do evil to the king's venison. Three of the offenders
were dead, and the other two were ordered to attend the court
day by day. It was afterwards proved that two more persons
of this poaching party had entered the park seven years pre-
viously; one of these was then living at Farnborough, and the
justice sent an order to the sheriff1 of Hampshire to arrest him
and keep him safely in prison until the eyre was held at
Winchester.
The information as to the agisting of the park, presented at
this eyre, is of interest. In 1257 the park was agisted with
ten horses and a hundred cattle for eight weeks, from Hock-
day to the Nativity of St. John Baptist, at a charge of id. a
head. After 24th June there remained on the park herbage
twenty plough-beasts at \d. a week. In the same year the
.park was agisted for 156 pigs, and there was given in the
name of pannage for the king every third pig, or 52 pigs in
all, each worth 2s. Particulars, approximately the same, save
that there was no pannage, follow on the roll for the next
two years. In 1260 there was no agistment of herbage in con-
sequence of the war, but the park was agisted with 240 pigs for
mast, ^d. being paid for each pig. In 1261 and in 1262 the
u
29o THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
park was not agisted, neither for herbage nor pannage.
In 1263 there were 100 pigs for mast at 4^. a pig. In 1264
there was no agistment for pigs through lack of mast, but it
was agisted for a month with 56 plough-beasts. Fifty oaks
were felled this year for the king's house-building works at
Guildford.
The bounds of the Surrey part of Windsor forest at this
eyre were given as : through Ham as far as Guildford bridge
along the bank of the Wey ; from Guildford bridge along the
11 Copledecroche " (Hog's Back) as far as the "Malloesot"
bridge; by the Woodbrook as far as " Brodesford " bridge
(Blackwater bridge) ; and so far by the king's highway to
Herpesford ; and so by the little river from Herpesford as far
as Chertsey ; and so by the Thames to Ham.
The Close Rolls of 1275 show that the keeper of this forest
received a considerable salary. Geoffrey de Picheford, con-
stable of the castle, was ordered in that year to pay izd. daily
to Robert de Say, whom the king had appointed chief forester
and minister of the forest during good behaviour, in place of
John Inglehard, deceased, for his expenses about that custody.
In that year the foresters and verderers were busy in selecting
oaks and beeches throughout the forest to be used for the
impaling of Windsor park and the king's other works. A
little later in the reign oaks were felled to be used in the
making of a great barge for the king's ferry at Datchet. In
1276 the constable of the Tower of London obtained thirty
Windsor oaks to burn lime with for the works of the Tower.
The impaling of the new park of Windsor seems to have
been completed in 1278. In November of that year the keeper
of Chute forest, Wilts, was informed by the king that he was
sending one of his yeomen to take in that forest live deer to
stock his park at Windsor, and that he was to permit as many
to be taken as could be without damage to Chute forest. In
the previous year the Close Rolls also supply the information
that there were then wild (silvestres) bulls and cows in Windsor
park ; the constable was ordered to effect their capture and
sale, and to use the money towards the expenses of the king's
children then staying at the castle.
The keeper of Windsor forest received orders from
Edward I. on 2Oth May, 1286, when the king was just about
THE FOREST OF WINDSOR 291
to cross the seas, to admit Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, his
kinsman, to chase in that forest at pleasure, and to permit
him to take deer, and to aid and counsel him in so doing. A
record was to be kept of the number of the deer thus taken.
The forest perambulations of 1299-1300 yield the following
as to the Surrey side of this forest : —
"The perambulation of the forest of Windsor, in the county of
Surrey, made on the Saturday next before the feast of St. Gregory
the Pope, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of king Edward, at
Lambeth before Roger Brabancon, John of Berwick, Ralph of
Hingham, William Inge, and John of Croxley, in the presence of
Phillip de Sai, clerk of the justice of the forest, the foresters and
verderers of the forest aforesaid, by the oath of William Aumbesas,
John of Burstow, Robert of Bekwell, knights, Robert le Dol, Robert
of Walton, William of Northwood, John Prodhomme, Robert att
Send, Nicholas of Weston, Richard of Horton, Edmund of Utworth,
and John of Farnham, who say upon their oath that the whole county
of Surrey was forest in the time of king Henry, the great-grand-
father of the king who now is, and the same king Henry died seised
of it ; and so it remained forest until the fourth day of December in
the first year of the reign of king Richard, who then disafforested a
certain part of the same county by certain metes, which are contained
in the charter of the same king Richard made concerning them, to
wit, between Kent and the water which is called the Wey, and from
the hill of Guild Down as far as the county of Surrey extends
towards the south ; and the rest of the county aforesaid, to wit,
beginning at the water of the Wey, as far as the county of Surrey
extends, to the north of the hill of Guild Down, remained and is
forest. And after that charter was made nothing was afforested or
occupied by king Richard or by king John or by anybody else.
" They say also that they do not know that any part of the county
aforesaid was afforested by the aforesaid Henry, the great-grand-
father of the king who now is."
There was a good deal of fickleness shown by Edward III.
and his advisers with regard to the Surrey part of the forest
at the beginning of his reign, as shown by the entries on the
Patent and Close Rolls. On 27th December, 1327, the recent
perambulation of the Surrey forest was confirmed. The per-
ambulation began at " Waymuthe," and thence along the
Thames to " Ladenlakeshacehe," where the three counties of
292 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Surrey, Berks, and Bucks met ; thence to the eastern corner
of Windsor Park, to the mill of Harpsford, to Thornhill, . . .
and thence to Bridford, where the three counties of Surrey,
Berks, and Hants met. This ratification concluded with the
assertion that the whole county of Surrey was without the
forest, and was so in the time of Henry, the king's great-
grandfather.
At the same time a mandate was issued to the sheriff to
have the king's letters patent read in full county court, the
proclamation publicly proclaimed, and to cause it to be
observed ; but saving to the king forty days from that date
to chase the deer into his forest in places which, according
to the perambulation, are without the forest. Another mandate
of the like date was issued to the constable of Windsor Castle
to use all diligence in chasing all such deer in Surrey into the
king's forest within the forty days.
The sheriff of Surrey was instructed on i5th October, 1329,
to make summons for an eyre of forest pleas for that county
at Guildford, on Monday after St. Andrew's Day.
On 4th August, 1333, the Surrey disafforesting of six years
earlier date, apparently based on hasty and insufficient in-
formation, was annulled. Order was then issued to obtain
full imformation as to the bounds of the Surrey forests in the
time of the late king, and to cause them henceforth to be
guarded by the like boundaries, and this notwithstanding
the grant of 1527; for the king had understood that divers
woods and open spaces in Surrey ought to be afforested, as
was fully proved by divers inquisitions and memoranda in
the treasury, and that the said woods and places under colour
of the late grant had been disafforested to the king's manifest
harm.
The forest justices (Sir John Ratcliffe and Sir Reginald
Gray) sat at Guildford on 8th August, 1488. The keepers
of the parks who were present were Sir Reginald Gray for
the parks of Guildford and Henley ; Richard Pigot, for
Poltenhall ; and William Mitchell, for Bagshot.
Sir Thomas Bourchier was the keeper, with Sir William
Norris, lieutenant, and William Orchard his deputy. One of
the foresters was lately dead, but two foresters and one deputy
were present. Henry Stokton and William Bantrum, the late
THE FOREST OF WINDSOR 293
verderers, were in attendance, as well as their successors,
Henry Slyfeld and John Westbrook.
The regarders numbered eighteen ; two of them were
described as gentlemen. There were seven woodwards, each
of whom returned omnia bene. The reeves and four-men of
the townships of Ash, Byfleet, Chertsey, Egham, Frimley,
Horsell, Pirbright, Thorpe, Windesham, Woking, and Worp-
lesdon were in attendance, as well as thirteen free tenants.
Among the offences dealt with at this eyre were the cutting
down without licence of forty oaks within the forest at Pir-
bright ; killing a great buck at Crowford bridge ; the killing
of a hind calf with greyhounds by Thomas Forde of Pirbright,
who was one of the foresters of the forest of Windsor ; the
felling and removing of 400 oaks and 300 beeches by Thomas
Abbot of Chertsey, without licence ; killing a stag with grey-
hounds at Wanburgh ; and various instances of shooting at
deer, or slaying them with bows and arrows, and setting nets
for their capture. Ralph Baggley was fined IOOT. for being
a common destroyer of pheasants and partridges and a taker
of birds. Another transgressor had slain six pheasants with
a hawk.
The reeve and four-men of Chobham presented John Wode
for following the craft of a tanner within the forest, and he
was fined i2d. They also presented another man for having
a warren, and he was mulcted in the like sum.
The following particulars were supplied to the justices re-
specting the deer of Guildford park during Henry VII. 's
reign :—
" The sum of the Dere slayn by our Sovereyn lorde the kynge
in the parke of Gylforde att the feste of Seynt Mychaell the fyrste
yere of hys Reygne.
Imprimis slayn of Dere of Auntyller xvj.
Item the same season Ix doys.
Item iij fones.
Item ij prykettes.
Item the same yere my lord Madurface iij doys and a prykett.
Item Syr John Arundell a Doo.
Item Master Bowchere ij Doys.
Item Syr Thomas Mylborne a Do we.
Item my lady of Lyncolne a Doo.
294 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Item Syr my lord Awdley a Doo.
Item Syr Jamys Awdley ij Doys.
Item ther dyede in moren xli doys and prykettys.
Item ther dyede the same yere Cxxxv of fones.
Item xj dere of Auntuller.
Item the kynge killede in Som xxiij dere of Auntuller.
Item my lord Grey Codnore a Bukke.
Item my lorde madurface a Bukke.
Item Syr John Arundell a Bukke.
Item Master Bowchere and Syr John Wynfelde a Bukke.
Item the Abbot of Westminster a Bukke."
In the second of his reign Henry VII. killed in this park,
between Michaelmas and All Saints, by his " oon persone "
ten does and a fawn. Two does were sent to the king at
Westminster on the Feast of All Saints. Six does were sent
"to the Coronation of the Quene." Twenty does, eight
bucks, and three sores were sent out as gifts during the year.
A presentment was also made as to the park of Henley-in-
the-Heath :—
"THE PARKE OF HENLEY.
" Thees bene the dere that have bene ded in moreyn and that hath
bene slayn seyn the begynnyng of the Reigne of the Kinges grase
that nowe is Kyng Henry the vijth.
" Fyrst the Kynges grase kylled hymselff in the seyd parke of
Henley wyth his Bowe and his bukhundes in the Fyrst yere of his
Reigne. iiij bukken.
" Item by his servauntes the same tyme the kyng being in the seid
parke. vj male dere.
" Item to the abbot of Westminster the same year j bukke.
" Item sent to the Court by the Kynges Waraunt the fyrst yere of
his Reygne in Wynter ij does.
"Item delyvered to the abbot of Westminster the second yere of
the Kynges grace — j bukke.
" Item delyvered to my Lord Prynce lyvynge at Farnham, the
second year of the kynges grase in Wynter iij does.
" Item delyvered to the seid abbot the thyrd yere of the kynges
grase j Bukke.
" Thees bene the morens in the seid parke.
" In the fyrst yere of the Kynges grase dyed in moreyn in the
seyd parke of Henley — iiij fawyns, j doe, and a pryker.
" Item in the second yere folowyng, j pryker, and ij faunes.
THE FOREST OF WINDSOR 295
" Item in the thyrd yere now last past, a soure and teg-ge.
" Item now in faunsumty6 dyed in fawnyngf. ij does.
" Item delyvered to Master Bourghchyer for ij yere, ij Bukken.
" Item Master John of Stanley killed in the seid parke j Bukke.
" Item my lord of Derby servauntes killed in the seid parke
j Tegg-e."
The same justices, before they came to Guildford, had held
the forest pleas for the Berkshire division of Windsor forest,
at New Windsor, on 4th August, 1488. Sir Thomas Bourchier
and Sir William Norris were respectively keeper and lieutenant,
as in the Guilford division. There were also present bailiffs
and deputies of the bailiwicks of Fenie Wood and Finchamp-
stead, and bailiffs of the respective liberties of the bishops of
Salisbury and Winchester, the bailiff of Elizabeth the Queen ;
representative burgesses of Windsor ; the late and present
verderers ; twelve regarders, six of whom were esquires ; and
jurors for the hundreds of Bray, Cookham, and Sonning.
Those that claimed at this eyre special liberties in the actual
forest of Windsor were Elizabeth, Queen of England'; the
bishops of Winchester and Salisbury ; the abbots of Reading,
Abingdon, Waltham, Westminster, Stratford Langthorn,
Cirencester, and Chertsey ; the priors of Hurley, Bisham,
and Merton ; the prioresses of Bromehall and Ankerwyke, the
dean and canons of Windsor, the provost and college of Eton,
the dean and chapter of Salisbury, the mayor and citizens of
New Windsor, the duchess of Norfolk, and two laymen.
A singular case to come under any kind of forest court was
that of John Pomfreth, the tenant of a mill-race (gurges}, at
a place called Hornedroare; he was fined i2d. for not supplying
drink to the inhabitants when making their Rogation-tide per-
ambulation, according to custom.
Henry VIII. was passionately fond of the chase and of sport
in all its forms, so that it is not surprising to find various
references to his experiences in this royal forest throughout
the papers of his reign. His chief sporting companion was
Sir William Fitzwilliam, and on him he conferred the keeper-
ship of the Surrey side of the forest. Richard Weston was
another of the hunting set, and on him, in 1511, the king
conferred the lieutenancy of the castle and forest of Windsor,
together with the office of bow-bearer. Another of his boon
296 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
companions was made bailiff of Finchampstead, within the
forest, which was then well supplied with red deer. Business
was by him usually sacrificed to pleasure. At the end of
July, 1526, Fitzwilliam writes from Guildford : "I received
a packet of letters addressed to the king, which I took to His
Majesty immediately ; but as he was going out to have a shot
at a stag, he asked me to keep them until the evening."
In August, 1528, Sir Thomas Heneage, in a letter to
Wolsey, from Easthampstead, said that the king on the
previous day had taken great pains with his hunting, from nine
in the morning till seven at night, but only obtained one deer
— the greatest red deer killed by him or any of his hunters that
year — which he sent as a present to the Cardinal. Fitzwilliam,
writing to Cromwell in August, 1534, having arrived that
night at the Great Park, mentioned that he was in much
comfort, as his keepers promised that the king should have
great sport, and asked Cromwell to bring his greyhounds
with him when he came to either Chertsey or Guildford. In
January of the following year, Lord Sandys writes to Crom-
well, in sore dread of the king's wrath, for young Trapnell
had killed twenty of the king's deer on the borders of Windsor
forest.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry VIII. made the last
royal attempt to afforest a new district. But even his tyranni-
cal disposition was restrained by statute, for he could afforest
no man's estate against his will, and he therefore had to make
private arrangements with owners to effect his purpose.
When he was established at Hampton Court, the king desired
to have a nearer hunting-ground than that adjoining Windsor
or Guildford, and therefore he resolved to make forest, if
possible, of all the country between Hampton and his new
palace of Nonsuch, near Epsom. Partly by new statute and
partly by his own headstrong will, he effected most of his
purpose. In 1539 he conferred on the district forest rights
and privileges, and called it the Honor of Hampton Court.
In the following year he obtained from Parliament two Acts,
the one " for the uniting of divers lordships and manors to the
castle of Windsor," and the other "for the uniting of the
manor of Nonsuch and divers other manors to the Honor of
Hampton Court." But shortly after Henry's death this newly
THE FOREST OF WINDSOR 297
created honor was dechased, and the deer removed to
Windsor forest.
Of Queen Mary it is stated that on the Tuesday after her
marriage, when she was at Windsor, a novel method of ' ' sport"
was introduced. Toils were raised in the forest four miles in
length, when a great number of deer, driven therein by
the hounds and huntsmen, were slaughtered.
Elizabeth was much more of a sportswoman than her sister.
Under the guidance of her favourite, Sir Henry Neville, the
queen frequently hunted in this forest. She remained keenly
attached to this royal sport to the end of her days. In January,
1699, Elizabeth wrote to Neville instructing him to give orders
for restraint of killing game and deer in Mote and Sunninghill
parks in Windsor forest during his absence as resident am-
bassador in France. As late as 1602 she shot "a great and
fat stag " at Windsor with her own hand, which was sent as
a present to Archbishop Parker.
The chief matter pertaining to Windsor forest under James I.
was the elaborate and careful survey drawn up by John Norden,
which was finished in 1607. There is a good abstract of this
survey, with a reproduction of that part of his map (at the
British Museum) relative to the Great Park, in Mr. Menzies'
fine work on that part of the forest. Norden thus defines the
limits of the forest: "This forest lyeth in Berkshire, Oxford-
shire, Buckinghamshire, and Middlesex. The Tamis bounds
it north, the Loddon weste, Brodforde river and Guldowne
south, and the Waye river east." The Great Park had then
a circumference of loj miles, and contained 3,650 acres within
the counties of Berks and Surrey, whilst his estimate of
the extent of the open forest was 24,000 acres.
James raised the wrath of the residents by attempting, soon
after his coming to England, to close the Little Park and
Cranborne Chase against all comers; but "the squires and
better sort," says Dixon, in Royal Windsor, "made private
keys and entered like gentlemen of the highest quality ; the
locks were exchanged, and they broke the fences with as little
scruple as the tramps."
Charles I. hunted here frequently at the beginning of his
reign. In 1632 Noy, the king's attorney-general, styled by
Carlyle "that invincible heap of learned rubbish," revived
298 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the forest pleas, and justice-seats were held both at Bagshotand
Windsor. Every old formality was strictly observed ; at the
opening each forester had to present his horn on bended knee
to the chief justice in eyre, and each woodward his hatchet ; and
these insignia of office were not returned until a fine of half a
mark had been rendered. The revival of forest pleas in Surrey
was bitterly resented. No part of Surrey had been treated as
THE HART (TURBERVILE)
forest until Henry II. 's time, when almost the whole county
was by degrees afforested. Richard I. found himself obliged
to throw open again all eastward of the Wey, save the royal
park and manor of Guildford, leaving the rest of the county
to be attached to Windsor, under the title of the bailiwick of
Surrey. But from that time onwards there had been more or
less resistance to any Surrey afforesting outside the parks,
and various sovereigns, particularly Elizabeth, had made im-
portant concessions. From 1632 to 1642 many of the gentle-
THE FOREST OF WINDSOR 299
men of Surrey encouraged rather than checked outbreaks of
daylight poaching, hunting in companies of eighty or a hun-
dred ; at the latter date the exemption from forest law of the
whole of Surrey, save Guildford park, was definitely accepted.
In 1640, the grand jury of the county of Berks complained
as to " the innumerable red deer in the forest (Windsor), which
if they go on so for a few years more, will neither leave food
nor room for any other creature in the forest." They also pro-
tested against the rigid enactment of the forest laws and the
inordinate fees exacted by some of the forest ministers. In
the following year a great tumult arose ; the people round the
New Lodge, in a riotous fashion, killed 100 fallow deer, in
addition to some red deer, and threatened to pull down the
pales of that park. The Earl of Holland was then constable of
park and forest, and he obtained authority for the sheriff of
Berks to raise the power of the county to apprehend the per-
sons engaged in this riot. But in 1642 the Long Parliament
took possession of Windsor.
It is in Windsor Park, says Mr. Menzies, that "the oldest
authenticated regular plantation in England can be shown."
In 1625, Richard Daye wrote to Secretary Conway, mention-
ing a proposal that he had previously made for "sowing
convenient places in Windsor forest with acorns, which had
been favourably received by the late king," and asking that
the project might be laid before Charles I. To this letter he
attached a statement to the effect that, in 1580, by order of Lord
Burleigh, thirteen acres within Cranborne Walk had been
impaled and sown with acorns, which had by that time (after
forty-five years' growth) become ua wood of some thousands
of tall young oaks, bearing acorns, and giving shelter to
cattle, and likely to prove as good timber as any in the king-
dom." It has been assumed, on excellent grounds, that the
plantation here referred to is the large group of oaks at the
'back of the park bailiff's house in the direction of Cranborne.
Under the Commonwealth, although Sir Bulstrode White-
lock, constable of the castle and keeper of the forest, was
himself a sportsman, the deer disappeared from the Great
Park, and only a few remained in the forest. Much of the
finest timber was felled, but chiefly for navy purposes. At the
Restoration, Charles II., as has been already seen, took some
300 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
trouble to re-stock many of the royal parks and forests with
both red and fallow deer. In this Windsor had its full share.
In November, 1731, the deer of Windsor forest numbered
1,300; in 1806 they had dwindled to 318. In 1813 came the
disafforesting Act for Windsor, and in the following year
a troop of the Horse Guards and a detachment of the 5th
Infantry were employed for two days in sweeping through the
wild heaths and dells that were about to be enclosed, and
driving thence the deer into the parks ; but in this rough
process many were slaughtered.
At the present day the acreage of the Great Park is about
3,000 acres, and it contains, in round numbers, 1,000 fallow
and loo red deer. Cranborne Park, though part of the Great
Park, has a pale of its own, and contains a small herd of white
red-deer !
CHAPTER XXV
THE FORESTS OF SUSSEX
IN early historic days, almost the whole of Sussex, together
with considerable parts of Kent and Surrey, formed one
great forest, called by the Britons Coit Andred, from its
vast extent. The Saxons called it Andredes-weald, which
was doubtless adapted from the Anderida Silva of the Roman
Itineraries. The Saxon Chronicle, under date 893, gives its
extent as 120 miles long from east to west, and thirty miles in
breadth. That considerable part of the county which remained
forest or open till much later days — some, indeed, until the
present time — was known as the Forest Ridge ; it formed the
elevated district of the north-eastern part of the county, and
stretched in a north-westerly direction along the borders of
Surrey. The principal sections of this are still known as the
forests of St. Leonard and of Ashdown.
Young, in his Agricultural Survey, at the end of the
eighteenth century, said : " A great proportion of these hills is
nothing better than the poorest barren sand, the vegetable
covering consisting of ferns, heath, etc. St. Leonard's Forest
contains 10,000 acres of it, and Ashdown 18,000 more, besides
many thousand acres in various other parts of the county."
Ashdown forest is described by Mr. Turner, in a good
paper contributed to the collections of the Sussex Archaeologi-
cal Society (vol. xiv.), as consisting of about 10,000 acres,
situated in the parishes of Maresfield, Fletching, East Grin-
stead, Hartfield, Withyham, and Buxted. It formed part of
the honor of Pevensey, and from 53 Henry III. was invested
in the Crown in perpetuity, and hence was a technical forest
under forest law, a position that it did not lose when it came to
John of Gaunt in 44 Edward III. It reverted to the Crown, with
301
302 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the rest of the Duchy of Lancaster, until the time of Charles II.,
when it was formally disafforested, and found its way into the
hands of speculators in waste lands. Various Tudor com-
missions show that the timber suffered severely from the
inroads made on it to supply charcoal for the iron foundries.
In the early part of Edward I.'s reign, the free chace and
warren of Ashdown were held by the king's mother. Pro-
ceedings were taken in 1283 against divers persons for hunting
and carrying away deer and rabbits from her park at Maresfield.
In 1297, Edward I. granted Thomas Paynel licence for life to
hunt with his own dogs, the fox, hare, cat, and badger in the
king's forest of Ashdown except during fence month ; it
was also specially stipulated that he did not take deer, nor
course in the king's warrens. On 3Oth July of that year, the
king appointed Walter Waldeshef to the bailiwick of the
forestership of Ashdown, on condition that he answered for the
same in like manner as his predecessors. Ashdown was a
favourite hunting resort of James I., and it was well stocked with
deer. The Parliamentary Survey of its seven wards is extant,
as well as a great variety of papers of earlier date. The his-
tory of this and the other forests of Sussex yet remains to
be written, though certain contributions in that direction were
made by Mr. W. S. Ellis in his Parks and Forests of Sussex,
published in 1885.
St. Leonards Forest lies north-east of Horsham, and forms
part of the great parish of Beeching. It would be more correct
to speak of St. Leonards Chace ; the whole body of the forest
law never prevailed here, as it was granted in early days by
the Crown to the Braose family. An entry in the Patent Rolls
of ist September, 1295, relative to a raid in this district on deer,
hares, rabbits, pheasants, herons, and fish, when the owner
was absent on the king's service in Wales, styles it the free
chace of William Braose, called the forest of St. Leonards
(liberam chaciam Willelmi de Breiaosa que vocatur foresta sancti
Leonardi}. Four years later a like entry on the same rolls rela-
tive to deer poaching describes it as the free chace of William
Braose at St. Leonards.
The forest of Arundel, though of limited extent, was well
stocked, and formed an important adjunct of the honor of
Arundel. The forest pertained to the earls of Arundel, as is
THE FORESTS OF SUSSEX 303
stated in the Close Rolls of 1206, but during a long minority
in the time of Henry III., and again in the time of Edward I.,
came under the control of the Crown. The chief point of
interest in its history is the disputes that arose as to the deer
between the earls and the archbishops of Canterbury, who
claimed the hunting. There was an appeal to Rome on the
subject in 1238, and it was not until 1258 that the renewed dis-
putes were finally settled by an agreement that the archbishop
might, on giving notice to the forest ministers, hunt once a year
when going to or returning from his manor of Slindon, with six
greyhounds, but with no other kind of dogs, nor with bows ;
and that if more than one beast was taken by the party, the
remainder were to be handed over to the earl. It was also
stipulated that the earl and his heirs should annually deliver
thirteen bucks and thirteen does to the archbishop at the
proper season.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE FORESTS OF HAMPSHIRE
THE NEW FOREST
SO much that is good of its kind has been printed concern-
ing the beautiful district of the New Forest, that only two
or three pages are allotted to it in this work. Mr. Wise's
admirable The New Forest , its History and Scenery (1863) long
remained the standard book on the subject; but two more recent
works have corrected some errors and given much fresh in-
formation. One of these is the joint article of over sixty large
pages, by the Hon. G. W. Lascelles and Mr. Nisbet, on
Forestry and the New Forest in vol. ii. of the Victoria History
of Hampshire (1903); and the other is the wholly delightful
and thorough book, rich in illustrations, by Mr. Horace
G. Hutchinson, which was published in 1904. To this may be
added the mention of a good article, with plans, descriptive of
the changing area of the forest, with its laws and customs, by
the late Mr. Moens, which appeared in the Archceological
Journal for March, 1903.
The New Forest may be described, in broad terms, as the
south-western corner of Hants, bounded by the Southampton
water and the Solent on the east and south, and by the Dorset
and Wilts borders on the west and north. Its extreme length
is twenty-one miles, and its greatest width twelve miles ; it
covers 92,365 acres, which include 27,620 acres of private
property. Put in other words, this means that the Crown or
public lands of the New Forest consist of about 100 square
miles, whilst the private lands occupy about forty square miles.
Within this, notwithstanding the considerable extent of the
woods, are several great stretching heaths and many an un-
timbered glade.
3°4
PLATE XXIII
LADIES RABBITING
(FIFTEENTH CENTUKY)
THE FORESTS OF HAMPSHIRE 305
In Hampshire, as elsewhere, the Saxon kings reserved
large tracts of country, well supplied as a rule with woods
and thickets, for the purpose of sport and hunting, whilst
at the same time they realised the importance of preserving
the woodlands for the pannage of the swine. Under the
Conqueror, the New Forest increased in area, and had its
special bounds assigned ; but stories set on foot by early
chroniclers as to William's reckless cruelty in destroying
scores of churches and burning out villages for the sake
of hunting, can readily be shown to be gross and absurd
exaggerations. The later story of this forest, as set forth
by Messrs. Wise, Lascelles, and Hutchinson, is a tale of
continued aggression by private owners and by squatters, of
grievous jobbery by forest officials, of Crown mortgages,
of much destruction of timber and deer, and finally of various
parliamentary inquiries in 1831, 1850, 1875, and at yet more
recent dates. The forest is at present governed by the Act
of 1877. Scotch firs and pines that now abound were first
planted here in 1776.
The red deer, the fallow deer, and the roe deer are all still
present in the New Forest, but in very much reduced numbers;
the last-named are strays that first found their way here from
Milton, Dorset, in 1870. In the days when Gilpin wrote his
delightful volumes on Forest Scenery (1790) there was a semi-
wild breed of bristly pigs in parts of the forest, which were
supposed to be hybrid descendants of the wild boar (Plate VIL).
Although there has been so much good writing on the
history of the New Forest, there are sources of further in-
teresting and original history at the Public Record Office
which no one has hitherto tapped. Space can be found for
only a few instances of such information.
The accounts of John Randolf, keeper of the forest, for 1306,
show that there was much of pasturage in various parts of the
forest, irrespective of general rights of agistment. There was,
for instance, considerable sale of corn and hay from the manor
of Lyndhurst in the centre of the forest ; eight oxen of that
manor were sold for 56^. Iron used in repair of the farm carts
of the manor cost 2s. lod. , two iron plough-shoes (for tipping the
wooden shares) cost 8^., and the shoeing of two cart-horses i8d.
The full accounts for this year are beautifully written and in
306
most excellent condition ; no antiquary would grudge the
wage of the keeper's clerk, which is entered as one mark,
"according to ancient custom." The keeper himself received
a salary of £10. The forest tithe, payable to the church of
Salisbury, was ^4 3-r. The most interesting entry of that
year is the sum of £8 15^. 8^., which was expended in repairing
the court house, or manor house of Lyndhurst, against the
coming of the king — ut patet per particuV — but unfortunately
the particulars are lacking. The manor house of Ringwood
was at the same time put in order to be ready for the royal
advent ; among the items is the entry of a supply of plaster
of Paris.
Forest pleas for the New Forest were held at Southampton
on Monday next after the Translation of St. Thomas the
Martyr, 1330, before John Mantravers. On the first day of the
session, which extended over twenty-one days, no fewer than
ninety-seven essoins or excuses for non-attendance were put in
for the substantial reason of death. In each of these cases
appearance had to be made by some relative or other qualified
person who testified to the death. The first five names stand
thus :—
" Essoines de Morte
Petrus de la Hoese — per Petrum de la Hoese militem.
Walterus Waleys — per Willielmum Loocras.
Nicholas de Ivele — per Rogerum de Ivele, Forester de Wolmer.
Walterus atte Broke — per Nicholam atte Broke.
Walterus Stretchhose — per Ricardum Stretchhose."
The venison pleas of the New Forest were presented by Sir
William de Beauchamp, keeper of the forest, for the term
of six years, in conjunction with Andrew de Camerton, his
lieutenant, and John de Romsey, John de Brymore, Richard
atte Hanger, and John Niernuyt, verderers. The venison
presentations were concerned with the death of 22 does, 10
bucks, 3 hinds, 2 harts, and 6 fawns, in addition to several
cases in which the numbers of the head of game taken off were
unknown. The fines imposed for these venison trespasses by
the justices varied from i2d. to 2os. The number of such
cases is by no means excessive, considering that the oldest
offence went back to 1284. It must also be remembered that
THE FORESTS OF HAMPSHIRE 307
there must have been numerous cases struck out, because the
delinquent or delinquents were dead. One of the more excep-
tional and interesting cases is that of two poachers who, in
July, 1325, hunted in the New Forest with nine greyhounds
and a mastiff, killing two does and a fawn ; they loaded them
on a white mare, when they were attached by the foresters and
committed, together with the mare, which was of the value
of 5-r., to the custody of Simon de Wynton, the sheriff of the
county. When the eyre was held Simon was called upon
not only to account for his prisoners, but for the 5-s1., the
value of the mare. But Sheriff Simon was dead, and Sir
Richard de Wynton, who held his lands, had to put in an
appearance and hand over the value of the white mare to the
justices.
The list of presentments of vert trespassers is a very long
one, covering both sides of four membranes. It opens with
two cases, in one of which three beeches, worth 3^., had been
felled, and in the other two oaks, worth 2^.; in each instance,
the offender had to pay izd. fine, the value having pre-
viously been paid at the local woodmote court. The usual
value put on oaks, roers, and beeches was is. each. Occa-
sionally the oaks must have been of considerable size ; in one
case an oak was valued at 2S., and in another at 3$. ^d. A cart-
load of green wood of white thorn was valued at 6d.
The following is a copy of a warrant for timber from Beau-
lieu, addressed by Henry VII. to the Earl of Arundel, the
keeper of the New Forest : —
"By the king
"We wil and charge you that unto our trusty and right wel-
beloved Cousin the erl of Ormond or unto the bringer herof in his
name ye deliver or doo to be delivered twelf Okes convenable for
tymbre to be taken within our Baiffship of Bewley in cure Forest
called the New Forest or in such places within the same Forest
as oure said Cousin shall thinke moost metely and convenient for him,
and these oure lettres shalbe yor Warrant. Geven undre oure
signet at oure Citie of Winchestere the xix dey of October the second
yere of oure Reign.
"To or Right trusty and right welbeloved Cousin Therl of
Arundell warden of our Newe Forest in our Countie of Suth'ton
and to his Lieutenant and keepers there."
3o8 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Among the presentments at an eyre temp. Henry VII. are
the following : —
"The bayly of goddyshell shewyth that John Colend the bayly of
Godshyll Kellyd a bukke in Somer in the viijth yere of Kyng Henry
the vijth and a doo the same somer wyth a Arrowe and caryed awaye
the Flesshe wythowte lycens of ony keper. Item the same John
Colend kylled a hert in the sayd baylywekke with an Arrowe in the
yere aforesayd and caryed away the flesshe withowte lycens of ony
keper.
" In the viijth yere of ye regne of Kyng Henry the vijth ye xijth day
KING AND QUEEN OAKS
of Junii Rychard Carter yoman of Bewly come into the Este bayly
and there he toke a rede dere and caryed it away.
" Ind that Sr Wylliam Holmes, prest of Sarum, come into the bayly
at Fytcham the Monday next aftyr holy Rode day the viijth yere of
Kyng Henry the vijth and there wyth hys greyhundys kellyd a Sowre
wythowte leve of ony keper.
"Also Rychard Kymbrege of Mychwood kylled ij hyndes calves
wyth hys howndys wyth owte leve of ony keper in the vijth yere
of Kyng henry.
" Ind that Sr Edward Wellyby, prest, came into the bayly at
Fyrtham the Satyrday next after Saynt Bartylmewes day the
viijtu yere of Kyng Henry the vijth and there wyth hys grehowyds
THE FORESTS OF HAMPSHIRE 309
kylled iij bukkys, a preket and a doo wyth owte ony lycens or autoryte
of ony keper.
" Presentyd by a offycer that one Robart Dyer otherwise called
Robart Foster the xvth day of October the viijth yere of Kyng Henry
the vijth come into the Newe Forest that is to say to Fette Thurnes
within the bayly of Battramsley and there fellyd and caryed away
the nowmbyr of xij lode of grene thurnes. The said prisoner appered
and deposed the contrary . . . and put in plege for his fyne."
The last of these extracts refers to a hard case when Charles I.
was attempting to revive forest law.
In November, 1639, Henry Earl of Holland, chief justice
in eyre, reduced on petition the fine of .£30 for a venison
offence in the New Forest in the case of one Harmon Rogers
to £5, and ordered his release from prison on giving sureties
to be of good behaviour towards the forest. The petition set
forth that Harmon was
"a miserable poore man in lamentable distresse, hath a poore wife
and vij small children, had great losse by fire, one of his children is
a creeple, hath a blind man to his father that wholly lyeth upon him,
hath been twice imprisoned for this one fault, and in his present
durance is ready to starve for want of food and so are his children
at home, at this present 30 li in debt, and hath no meanes in the world
to releive himself his blind father wife and vij childrene but his pain-
full labour and never did or will, as God shall help him, commit any
fault or offense against his Majesties game but onely one. "
ALICE HOLT AND WOOLMER
In addition to the New Forest, Hampshire had two other
large forest areas — Alice Holt and Woolmer, and the forest
of Bere.
Alice Holt, a comparatively modern and unfortunate cor-
ruption of Axisholt, and Woolmer, though apparently always
separated by a small strip of non-forest land, were practically
one, and formed a considerable stretch of country, chiefly wood-
land, on the borders of Surrey and Sussex. They were almost
invariably under the same general control, though having
their separate minor forest ministers. Thus, in 1217, Axis-
holt and Wulvemar formed one bailiwick in the charge of
Robert de Venoit, and again, in the beginning of Edward I.'s
3io THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
reign, both Alice Holt and Woolmer forests were under the
same keeper, Adam Gurdon. They seem to have been well
stocked with both red and fallow deer, and also heavily tim-
bered. Adam Gurdon, in 1273, had to deliver two bucks at
Windsor Castle, as the king's children were staying there. In
1276 and 1277 the same keeper was instructed to give facilities
to a royal huntsman who was sent down with his dogs to take
harts for the king's household in the forests of Alice Holt and
Woolmer ; and in the following year he had to dispatch
thirty oaks fit for timber towards the rebuilding of Winchester
Castle.
The sixth report of the woods and forests commission, issued
in 1790, devotes eighty-eight folio pages to these two Hamp-
shire forests. The commissioners cite the perambulation of
this joint forest made in 1300 as reduced from the wider limits
of earlier reigns. A perambulation of 1 1 Charles I. gives
practically the same bounds. The whole area within the
forest is returned as 15,493 acres, but of that quantity 6,799
acres were in private hands. Reference is made to a justice
seat held n Charles I., and to swainmote courts in the
reigns of James I. and Charles I. The administration and
customs of the forest corresponded with the general use.
Since the year 1777 the timber had been very largely used for
the navy ; it was taken by road, about ten miles, to Godal-
ming, where the river Wey was navigable, and thence to the
dockyards on the Thames. The lieutenant of the forest
(Lord Stawell) considered the deer his own, There were then
about 800 fallow deer in Alice Holt ; the red deer used to be
found in Woolmer Forest, but the latter were removed to
Windsor about 1760. In the appendix there is a list of the
lieutenants or keepers of the forest from 45 Elizabeth, and
very full particulars as to the sale, extent, and value of the
timber. All kinds of cattle were admitted to pasture save
sheep.
BERE FOREST
The forest of Bere extended northwards from the Portsdown
Hills. According to a perambulation made in 1688, it included
about 16,000 acres. The southern ward, in early days, often
went by the name of Porchester forest.
THE FORESTS OF HAMPSHIRE 311
When pleas of this forest were held in September, 1490,
at Winchester, it was returned that Sir George Nevill was
keeper ; Sir James Awdley, lieutenant ; Ralph Shorter,
forester, and John Wilton, his deputy ; William Knight,
ranger ; and William Froste and John Hamond, verderers.
William Mody and his fellows were present as regarders, and
there were two juries sworn of the men of the hundreds of
Somborne and Buddlesgate.
For fee timber Richard Curson, as deputy of the justices,
received six beeches ; the keeper, two roers, and his deputy,
a beech ; the lieutenant, a roer ; the ranger, a beech ; each
verderer, an oak and a beech ; the regarders, two beeches and
and a roer ; the two sessional clerks, four beeches ; and the
under-sheriff, a roer. Richard Curson also received a buck.
At a swainmote of West Bere, held on 5th June, 1475,
before John Whitehede and John Hamond, the verderers,
Robert Bailly, forester, presented that John Ewerby, lord of
Farley, claimed to have the right to deer that escaped into his
lordship, and that he had killed several head at Hambledon
and Queentree.
At another swainmote, held on ist June, 1488, before
William Frost and John Hamond, verderers, Robert Bailly,
the forester, again presented the lord of Farley for having
killed several does and fawns in the previous August in the
woods of West Bere. He also presented Richard Mathew,
lately parish chaplain of Sparsholt, and then living at Crawley,
for having killed a doe with bow and arrows. A more serious
charge was preferred against a yeoman and a miller of Win-
chester, who with a large number of disorderly persons hunted
the forest with greyhounds and two other kinds of dogs,
namely " rachys et kenettes," to the grave destruction of the
deer.
The woods and forests commissioners' thirteenth report,
issued in 1792, is devoted to this forest. It is described as in
the south-east part of the county and within eight miles of
Portsmouth. The perambulation of 1300 is printed in the
appendix. The forest was then divided into two walks, the
East and the West. Following the boundaries laid down in
1688, the commissioners estimated the area as at least twenty-
five square miles, about a third of which was enclosed, and
3i2 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the rest open forest land. The parishes within the forest and
certain neighbouring ones turned out horses, horned cattle,
and ringed swine at all times of the year, but no sheep. The
officers were a warden-in-fee by Crown grant ; four verderers,
chosen by the county freeholders ; a ranger, a steward of the
swainmote court, and two keepers for each walk, all appointed
by the warden during pleasure ; twelve regarders chosen, if
required by the county freeholders; and two agisters appointed
annually, at the swainmote court. There were about 200
fallow deer in the East Walk, and about fifty in the West
Walk. A court book was extant from the year 1685, but no
court had been held since 1769, when it could not be opened
as no verderers attended. Extensive encroachments were
being made, and the timber and underwood of the Crown
lands comparatively unguarded. The commissioners strongly
urged that the district should be disafforested. The under-
keeper of the West Walk testified that until recently the deer
were regularly browsed with "holly, ivy, and the tops of
thorn bushes, when the season required it."
Reference is made in the general section on later forest
history to the great chase or park that pertained to the Bishops
of Winchester at Waltham.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE FORESTS OF WILTS
CLARENDON
THERE is clear evidence that the forest of Clarendon,
Wilts, formed part of the royal demesne in pre-Norman
days. The nuns of Wilton, at the time of the Domesday
Survey, had a customary right in the wood of Milchet to four-
score loads of firewood, pannage for fourscore swine, together
with as much timber as was requisite for keeping their houses
and fences in repair. The parks of Milchet and Buckholt and
the forest of Panshet were original members of Clarendon
forest according to the thirteenth-century Hundred Rolls. In
the interesting account given in Hoare's county history, it is
stated that the earliest general view of this forest is to be found
in these rolls of the end of Henry III. and beginning of Edward I.
But this is scarcely correct, for the Close Rolls of the early part
of the reign of Henry III. abound in references to the forest and
its component members, as might naturally be expected from
the fact of Clarendon being such a favourite residence of our
kings in the thirteenth century.
The timber of the forest was a great boon to the district,
and freely granted by the king for ecclesiastical and other
purposes. Six oaks were granted in 1222 to Gilbert de Lacy
for building a chapel in his court at Britford ; in 1223,
fourteen large pieces of timber (vj posies iiij pannas et iiij
*solivas) from the rootfallen or cablish trees to make a granary
at Eblebourn ; in 1224, all the cablish timber, not yet sold,
for the fabric of the cathedral church of New Sarum, which
had been begun four years before ; in 1230, three oaks to the
prioress of Amesbury for making the nuns' stalls, and five
oaks to help the Franciscan friars in building their house at
Salisbury; and in 1231, five good oaks out of Milchet wood
313
3i4 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
for the abbess of Romsey to make planks for the dormitory,
and two oaks for the prioress of Amesbury to mend the quire
stalls. As to wood for fuel, the Bishop of Salisbury obtained
a grant of forty loads in 1224; Walter Fitz-Peter obtained
three dead trees (tria bona sicca robora folia non ferentid) for
his hearth, in 1230; and the nuns of Amesbury five loads of
firewood in 1233, in addition to their customary privilege of
estover.
During the like period the orders for timber from this
forest for the works at the palace and park of Clarendon were
numerous, and in 1223, after the great gale, the large sum
of £40 from the sale of the rootfallen trees of this forest
was appropriated to the works at Winchester Castle.
Among the grants of deer from this forest, may be mentioned
a grant in 1223 of hunting ten bucks to the Earl of Salisbury,
and a gift of four does to the Bishop of Salisbury in the
following year. In 1228 one Savory de Malo Leone had a
royal grant from Clarendon of five live does; and in 1229
William Earl of Pembroke obtained'' twenty Clarendon does
towards stocking his park at Hampstead. The supply of
fallow deer was evidently considerable in this forest, but there
is no record of red deer.
At an inquisition of the hundred of Alderbury, in 1255, the
jurors returned that the forest of Clarendon was well warded,
but that the park of Milchet was then waste through the king's
frequent gifts and sales, and through supplying the works at
Clarendon and Salisbury. The jurors of 1275 returned that
the king held this forest in his own hands. John de
Grymstede held the manor of Plaitford by serjeanty of
warding the park of Milchet ; Jordan de Laverstoke held
land at Laverstoke, and Edmund de Milford at Milford
by finding respectively a forester for Clarendon ; and Henry
de Heyraz by finding a keeper for the king's running hounds
(canes heyricii].
The royal gifts and orders as to wood from Clarendon forest
were almost as profuse in Edward I.'s time as in that of his
predecessor, particularly at the beginning of his reign. In
1275, the king granted four oaks to the priory of Mottisfont,
and six oaks to one William de Fennes, as well as ordering
twenty oaks out of Milchet wood for joists (gistas) and eight
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 315
oaks for shingles (cindulas] for the works at Clarendon. In
1276, the bailiff of Clarendon forest had orders to supply the
sheriff of Wilts with four oaks fit for timber, to enable him to
rebuild the king's mill under the castle of Old Sarum, which
had been thrown down by the force of the river ; thirty oaks
were granted to the abbess of Wilton towards the building of
her church, and ten cartloads of brushwood to the Domini-
cans of Wilton. In the same year orders were given for
supplying forty oaks for shingles for roofing the new works at
Clarendon, and also sixty beams of timber to make rafters
(chevrones\ for Queen Eleanor, to be used in the buildings
at Lyndhurst. In 1277, the queen had a further grant of
twenty oaks out of Milchet park to make laths (latas] for the
use of her manor house of Lyndhurst, of the king's gift. It is
curious to find timber being imported into the centre of the
New Forest ; it seems to imply that there was at that date very
little wood suitable for timber in the great Hampshire forest.
The grants of timber were not so numerous in the reign of
Edward II. Among them may be mentioned orders to the
keeper of Clarendon forest, in 1320-1, to deliver to the
sheriff for the repair of the king's water-mills below the castle
of Old Sarum thirty oaks and twenty beeches. The beeches
were to be felled in Buckholt wood, and as there are other
references to the beeches of Buckholt in the reigns of
Richard II., Edward IV., and Henry VII., it seems likely that
Buckholt was almost if not entirely a wood of beeches.
The adjacent small forest of Groveley was attached to that of
Clarendon early in the fourteenth century. A return of the
sales of the underwood for the last four years is entered on the
Great Roll at Michaelmas, 1333. It was evidently the habit to
clear out the undergrowth of a certain number of acres, re-
presenting different sized coppices each year. The following
is a table of the sales and average. The total for the four years
is £116 15-$-. \o\d. : —
CLARENDON PARK. GROVELEY FOREST.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
1330
... 25 acres
. 20 19 8
8 acres
.180
I33i
... 27 ,,
..21 50
24 ,, ir. .
-756
1332
••• 30 ,,
.. 22 19 8
12 ,, 3r. .
.. 2 17 4!
1333
... 40 ,, ir. .
•• 33 15 8
23 n 3r« •
..650
316 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
The yearly sale of this undergrowth must have been a boon
to the neighbourhood, for where particular records of sales
exist, as they do among the Exchequer accounts for most of the
reign of Edward III., it is found that the wood was purchased
as a rule in quite small lots. Thus, in 1346, when the wood of
the coppice by Canonpath, close to the small priory of Ivy-
church, which stood within the forest, was sold for £17 yj. id.,
there were forty-three purchases, the largest sum being
26s. 8d.
An indenture made at the market of Salisbury in 1360,
between Robert Russel, lieutenant of Roger Earl March,
keeper of the forest and park of Clarendon, and the two ver-
derers of the same, with regard to the sale of oak and beech at
Buckholt, mention is made of the foresters who had to be
maintained. They were eight in number, namely, two each
for the forests of Buckholt and Groveley, one for the park of
Milchet, and three for the park of Clarendon ; their pay was
to be at the rate of 2d. a day. There were also two labourers
at \\d. a day, whose chief duty it was to keep the pales or
park fence in order. In one document of this date these men
are termed "palyers," and at a later date " palers." It is
stipulated that all these men were to be paid by the verderers
at the rate of 365 days to the year ; that is to say, their wages
were due for Sundays and holy days as well as on working
days. Several accounts of the reigns of Edward III. and
Richard II. show a large expenditure on hay for the sustenance
of the deer during the winter. This was quite an exceptional
forest expense, and only resorted to for the game in forests or
parks frequented by royalty. For the most part their winter
food consisted of the deer-browse or clippings from the forest
trees.
The dean and chapter of Salisbury had the tithe of the
venison of this forest granted to them by charter of Henry II.,
confirmed by several subsequent kings. There is an entry
among the chapter records of the arrival of fifteen deer for
the cathedral clergy in one year of Richard II.'s reign, when
the capture of deer had amounted to 150.
The records of several large forests, where they must have
abounded, are destitute of any reference to conies or rabbits.
But in the case of Clarendon they were repeatedly mentioned
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 317
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and once or twice in
the thirteenth century. In the time of Edward III. the warrens
seem to have been the perquisite of the chief keeper. In 1495
the sum of £100 received of the " Fermour of the Coneys in
Clarendon " was an item of the revenue assigned for the
expenses of the king's household. In the time of Charles I.
the warrens were worth upwards of ,£200 a year.
Parliament was petitioned in 1388 by the commonalty and
inhabitants of Salisbury complaining that the forest officials
of Clarendon had of late years appointed certain of the citizens
to act as vendors of the underwood, to their great damage and
annoyance, and praying relief. A favourable reply was given,
to the effect that such duties were never to be imposed on those
living outside the forest bounds, save by the king's special
mandate.
Detailed accounts are extant for the year 1442 of the wood
sales at Buckholt and Milchet. They were sent up to London
in a leather bag or wallet, in which they still remain in excel-
lent condition (Accts. Exch., Q.R. ^y). Richard Ambros and
William Colyn were this year instructed to fell 400 beeches in
Buckholt and 200 oaks in Milchet for the repairs of the
manor houses, lodges, and park pales. Sir John Stourton
was at that time lieutenant to the Duke of Gloucester, who
was keeper. The schedule shows that the beeches realised
from 2s. to 2s. 6d. each ; two selling for 5^. , four for 8s., six for
14^., ten for zos., another ten for 25^., one for 2s. 4^., etc.
The oaks were sold in larger lots, five in all ; three lots of
sixty each all realised £4. IOT., whilst two lots of ten were sold
for a total of 30^.
A warrant to the sheriff of Wilts of i Richard III. (1483)
charged him to pay to the seven keepers of the forests and
parks of Clarendon, Buckholt, Milchet, and Groveley zd. a
day, and to the two parkers of the park of Clarendon id. a day
for their wages. The sheriff was also to buy yearly in the
summer season "as moche haye as shall amounte unto the
some of x/z or within," which was to be stored for winter use
in the barn of the park.
Clarendon swainmotes held during the year 1487 include
presentments for carrying off iiij palebordys de la Parke pale de
Clarendon; pasturing six pigs; killing a doe and fawn with
3i8 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
greyhounds ; and for being a common hunter both by day and
night with ferrets and snares. Among the officials present at
the Clarendon swainmotes were two palers (palatiarii}, who
were responsible for the due upholding of the park fence.
On 2ist August, 1487, the forest pleas for this forest and its
members was held at New Sarum before Justices Ratcliffe
and Grey.
An interval of eighteen years had elapsed since the pleas
had been held, for the last justice seat was in 9 Edward IV.
(1469). The attendance of officials of Clarendon forest or
park was considerable : Thomas Arundell, the keeper ; Sir
T. Milborne, the lieutenant, and Walter Parker his deputy ;
Roger Holes, the ranger, and John Mue his deputy ; John
Shotter, the launder, and William Foster his deputy ; the four
foresters, one for each of the four bailies ; the two verderers,
Roger Bulkeley and Druce Mompesson, both entered as
esquires ; four woodwards ; and twelve regarders.
For the forest or park of Milchet there were a separate set
of officials : Edmund Earl of Arundel was the keeper, and
there were also a deputy lieutenant, two verderers, two
rangers and a forester, as well as woodwards and regarders.
There were also present woodwards of three outlying
districts, and one for the forest of Groveley, together with the
bailiffs of five different hundreds wherein parts of the forests
of Clarendon and Milchet were situated. The whole list was
signed by Sir John Turbervyle, the sheriff, who was, of course,
bound to meet the justices.
The customary perquisites of the officials were enumerated.
The keeper of Clarendon was entitled each year to one roer
and two bucks, and each forester and ranger to a roer and
two oaks. For Milchet the verderers had two roers and a
buck, the forester one roer and his deputy the same, the
ranger one roer, the regarders a buck and a roer to be divided
among them, and the clerk of the Her two roers.
The Austin priory of Ivychurch, founded by Henry II.
within the forest of Clarendon, appears to have been estab-
lished for the twofold object of providing a spiritual centre for
the denizens of the forest, and for the needs of the royal
household at their Clarendon seat. Various early charters
provide for the canons being held responsible for the religious
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 319
services in the several Clarendon chapels. In addition to
early general grants of pasturage which the canons enjoyed
throughout the forest, Henry III., in 1252, provided that they
should have in every year that the forest was agisted twenty
swine with their litters to feed on the mast, free of pannage
charges, provided they were ringed ; but there were to be
no pigs allowed in. the forest during those years when it was
not agisted. Four years later the king granted them a piece
of ground of considerable size adjoining their priory, known
by the unattractive name of Filthycroft, with leave to enclose
it with ditch and hedge, but only in accord with the fixed
custom of the forest that permitted of the entrance and return
of a deer and her fawns at due seasons. Edward II., in 1317,
granted the priory right of pasturage in the forest for forty
bulls and cows at a rental of 56^.
The following interesting memorandum of warrant venison
and vert since the last iter was presented to the justices at
the 1487 pleas by the lieutenant of the forest : —
Md of waruntes shewed by the leuetenaunte of Claryngdon for
veneson and verde in Claryngdon
by waruntes of King Edward [iv]
j buk the xth yere of his reygne
ij bukkes the xiiij ,,
xij doyn the xvj ,,
ij bukkes the xvij ,,
iij bukkes the xviij ,,
j buk ye xxfi ,,
ij bukes the same yere
iiij bukkes the same yer
j buk the same yere
XX
iij (60) quicke dere ye xxjth yere
xix doyn the same yere
M
ij ccix (2209) ded in moreyn the same yere
A buk by warante w*out date
vj lodes of quicke dere the xxijth yere
ij bukkes the xxjth yere
xx doys the xxij yere
j herte and ij bukkes ye xiiijtb yere
320 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
By warant of the Erie of Essex, Justice of Forest in Claryngdon
and the members to ye same
xij Rowers by severall warrantes ye xvij yere of K. E
j warante for the home copis in Claryngdon A° xviij
j warante for the old parke A° xxi
j warante for xu of trees in Claryngdon A° xxij
j warante for viij marke of trees in Claryngdon A° xix
j warante for vj11 [worth of trees] Bukholte A° xiiij
By warant of William Erie of Arundell, Justice of Foreste
j warante for Calumhill copis A° pr° Ric tercij
j warante for ye logiis of Assheldy and Cheveley A° ij R.
j warante for x" of trees in Claryndon A° ij H. vij
j warante for ye copis of vij Rales in Claryngdon A° ij H. vij
By warantey of Kyng Richard.
xx doys the ijd yere of his reigne
c trees for to make Salte peter and Gunepowder
By warantes of Kyng Harry the vijtb
xij doys the firste yere of his reigne
xviij doys the same yer
xx doys the iijd yer of his reigne
As many trees as drawith to xxh
The Crown, in 1576, called upon the regarders of Milchet,
Richard Bacon and Thomas Gauntlett, to return certificates in
reply to articles of interrogation which had been forwarded to
them. The following are their answers, the more important
or interesting parts being cited verbatim : —
" We do saye that ther ys remaynynge in the Custody of one of us
one Sealynge axe withe a peculye mark and one Bagge wheryn the
Same Axe ys Kepte.
"That Richard Audley Esquire, the Keeper of the Forest of
Milchet, claims the windfall, and hath also taken five ' rotefall ' trees,
about 12 loads in all ; that he hath taken the rotefall trees without
any marking with the sealing axe ; and that he hath also taken
several dead oak trees similarly unmarked.
"That the Keeper caused an oak to be fallen to make ' dogge
stakes for the Savegarde of the deere," which oak was fallen and
carried befor any view consideration or allowance of us the regarders,
the stem of which oak we have marked with the sealing axe.
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 321
"That none were sworn for the falling of deer brouse last winter,
though the Keeper had promised that one of his men should come
before us the regarders to be duly sworne ; and yet did appoint three
men who never appeared before us to ' cutte deere brouse of the
bowes of okes in the Queenes Wooddes in the Forest of Mylchett
where they dyd cutte and fall the bowes of okes of greter quantyte
and bygger then a bucke was able to turne over with his hedde in
Wynter and that they did cutt very lyttle other Woodde of the
Queenes for deere browse but of the bowes of okes whereas ther ys
hasell bysche, wethy, maple, and thorne.'
" That in our judgement 33 loads of brouse and fire wood were cut.
"That no cattle hath been put into the Queen's coppice, but n
swine the which we impounded.
"That we have a book wherin we write offences in the Queens
woods if any be committed."
James I., by letters patent dated I3th December, 1606, granted
to William, Earl of Pembroke, the whole of the offices of
keeper, warden, lieutenant, and bailiff of the forest and park
of Clarendon, with all its members, together with the appoint-
ment of all foresters, rangers, launders, palers, and stewards
of courts of swainmote. By this comprehensive patent the
earl obtained the most absolute control that probably any one
subject ever possessed over a royal forest. As chief ranger of
Clarendon Park, he was entitled to the whole of the herbage and
pannage, stocking it either with his own cattle or letting the
agistment to others ; at the felling of any of the twenty-one
coppices of this park the ranger had two acres of the best wood
for his own use, which was worth, on an average, £20 per
annum; the farming of the "conie berryes " in the park
realised £200 a year. Moreover, the patent gave the earl all
the Clarendon lodges, with their houses, offices, and barns ;
there were six of these, five termed " Innelodges" and one
an "Outlodge." The chief lodge, with its fees and profits,
was worth £140 a year. The four keepers of the other in-
lodges, such keeperships being now vested in the earl, who
need only put in deputies, had rights of grazing cows and
horses, which with venison fees, wages, firewood, and lodgings,
brought the total annual amount of the four to £358. The
keepership of the outlodge was worth £42 iu. 8d. a year.
Then, also, as bow-bearer the earl was entitled to various
322 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
other fees and forest rights worth £49 13^. 4^. a year. And
the whole of this was in addition to the venison and rootfallen,
windfallen, and dead timber and general lop and crop that per-
tained to the general office of chief keeper or warden of a royal
forest. Trees, coppice wood, and game still technically belonged
to the king, but the Crown value was much reduced by this ex-
ceptionally generous patent.
An elaborate survey of Clarendon park was taken by the
Commonwealth in 1650, which is cited in full by Hoare. The
impaled ground of this park then included 4,293 acres, and
was said to be worth £1,806 js. id. per annum. It was
divided into five parts of about equal value, the bounds of each
of which are duly set forth. The names of the five divisions
were the Ranger's, Theobald's, Fussell's, Palmer's, and
Hunt's. In addition to these divisions, which were in the
parishes of Alderbury, St. Martin's, Salisbury, and Laver-
stock, there was also a survey taken at the same time of the
Outlodge district, on the east side of Clarendon park, in the
parish of Pitton; it is described by the commissioners as being
within "the disafforested forest of Pannsett, alias Panshett,"
and no part of Clarendon Park.
The deer of the park, distributed about the five divisions,
numbered 500 "or thereabouts," and were valued at 20^.
apiece. The timber trees, in addition to saplings, numbered
14,919 ; they appear to have been all oaks. Many had been
recently cut down and marked for the navy. The undergrowth
was chiefly maple and thorn.
After the Restoration, in 1665, Charles II. granted Claren-
don park to George Monk, Duke of Albemarle.
MELKSHAM AND PEWSHAM
The forest district nearest to the centre of the county
was that of Melksham, which was about equally distant
from Chippenham, Devizes, Calne, Trowbridge, and Coss-
ham. During the later part of its history it was frequently
termed the forest of Melksham and Pewsham, Pewsham being
an extra-parochial district south of Chippenham, which is now
included in the new parish of Derry Hill. But the more usual
title in the reign of Henry III. was the forest of Melksham
and Chippenham, Chippenham occasionally coming first.
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 323
In 1217, John Marshall, the keeper of the Melksham and
Chippenham forest, was superseded by Richard de Samford,
but the former was appointed constable of Devizes Castle, and
the profits assigned for the upkeep of the castle. In 1219
Philip de Albiny was appointed by the Crown forest keeper
and also constable of the castle. At the time of the general
order as to cablish, after the great storm of 1222, the two
appointments were also in the same hands. It was but very
rarely that forest appointments were in clerical hands, but in
1225 the Crown nominated the Bishop of Salisbury to this
forest keepership at pleasure.
The men of Melksham obtained certain pasture rights in the
forest in 1229, when Richard de Gray was keeper and con-
stable of Devizes. Chippenham and Melksham, though under
the same rule, and probably united without any break of forest
jurisdiction, were evidently regarded as two great wards of the
same forest. There were several royal orders in Henry III.'s
reign for so many oaks out of Chippenham and so many out of
Melksham, made simultaneously, and addressed to the keeper
of the two.
Forest pleas for Melksham and Pewsham were held at
Devizes on 3ist August, 1490. The officials present were :
Sir Richard Beauchamp, keeper of the forest ; Thomas Long,
Esq., lieutenant; Walter Wrothesley, ranger; John, George
and Thomas Barbour, foresters ; Thomas Unwin and John
Blake, esquires, verderers ; thirteen regarders, five of whom are
styled esquires ; five woodwards, and the reeves and four-men
of each of the five townships of Chippenham, Studley, Stanley,
Melksham, and Stroud. A place is left in the schedule for
agisters, but the return is nulli. There were also present a grand
jury of seventeen, headed by William Bouchier, sen., Esq.,
and twenty-five jurymen from each of the hundreds of Chip-
penham and Melksham. Of the five woodwards, one was
appointed by and represented the interests of the abbot of
Stanley, another the abbess of Lacock, and a third Cecilia,
Duchess of York. It was declared that the keeper was entitled
to an oak from each baily ; the lieutenant and ranger to an oak
each ; the forester and verderers to a roer each ; the company
of regarders to a roer and a buck between them ; Richard
Curson, the justices' deputy, to six oaks and a male deer called
324 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
a pricket ; William Heyden and his assistants, for clerical
labour and attendance at the sessions, to four roers ; and
Thomas Unwin, as sheriff of Wilts, a buck. The claims to
liberties of the abbot of Stanley, the prioress of Ambresbury, the
abbess of Lacock, the priors of Farley and Brodenstoke, the
Bishop of Salisbury, the Duchess of York, the Countess of
Warwick, and three others were enrolled.
The army of officials, however, reported omma bene, and as
the various claims were all of long standing, it may be said
that the whole business was nil, save that the findings of the
swainmote court held on the previous gth of June were duly
enrolled, recording the conviction of several transgressors for
venison offences.
It was also recorded that in the first year of Henry VI I. 's
reign 82 deer died of murrain, namely, 27 bucks, 35 does, and
20 fawns ; and in the second year the great number of 340,
namely, 140 male, 200 female ; and in the third year 140, of
which number 50 were male and the rest female. There
seem to have been no red deer in this forest at that date.
Most of this forest was disafforested in the days of James I.,
but the Crown at that time retained the liberty of Bowood,
adjacent to Calne, which was part of Pewsham forest. This
was one of the best timbered districts of the forest, and in
1649 the Commonwealth caused a great number of the finest
trees to be felled to pay the expenses of the army, under the
authority of an Act of the Parliament. Fortunately, however,
under the administration nf the famous John Pym, who was
for many years a representative of the borough of Calne, the
destruction was stayed. In 1653, Bowood, "late parcel of the
possessions of Charles Stewart late King of England," was
surveyed, when it was found to consist of 958 acres, bearing
10,921 trees. At the Restoration, Bowood reverted to the
Crown, but Charles II. sold it to Sir Orlando Bridgman, and
thus the last remnant of this once great forest jurisdiction
came to an end.
Bowood, which is now the seat and property of the Marquis
of Lansdowne, still preserves large tracts of wood and finely
timbered lands outside the immediate park. The park of 254
acres has a herd of 200 fallow deer, and has many well-grown
trees — beech, oak, elm, and chestnut. To the immediate south
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 325
of Bowood is Captain Spicer's fine park of 500 acres, with a
herd of 300 fallow deer. It consists of beautiful rough, broken
ground, and is also within the old forest area, and but little
changed in appearance from its condition in medieval days.
BRADEN
In the extreme north of the county, a little to the south of
Cricklade, stretched the considerable forest of Braden, which
was anciently of great extent and abounding in both red and
fallow deer. It was entirely separate from the other Wilts
forests, and is named second in the list when orders relative to
the cablish of all English tree-bearing forests were sent to the
foresters and verderers in 1222. Its keeper at that date was
Hugh de Samford. Warner de Samford had been the keeper
in the previous year. In 1231, when Henry III. was at Marl-
borough early in March, Hugh, the keeper, was ordered to
supply Isabel, the king's sister, with two hinds against Easter,
as the lady was tarrying at Marlborough. In the same year
Thomas de Samford, one of the royal chaplains, was made
warden of Cricklade hospital, and the king bestowed on him
and his successors full way-leave without any interference
from foresters or verderers throughout the whole forest for
horses and carts to obtain fuel whenever needed for the
brethren and poor of the hospital. In August of the same
year Henry III. sent his huntsman, John the Fool, with his
companions, to hunt Braden forest with dogs, and to take
thence for the royal use ten harts and fifteen bucks.
There are various rolls extant of swainmote courts held in
this forest in the reign of James I. The records of the swain-
mote held on 6th July, 1609, before Edmund Lough, esquire,
verderer, and Richard Digge, esquire, steward, mentions
Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, as keeper, and Henry
Baynton, esquire, as ranger. There were present 4 foresters,
ii regarders, 41 agisters, 14 woodwards, 2 herdsmen of Ashton,
and many jurymen. The foresters presented the taking of
16 bucks, 12 does, i soare, and i tegge, all by due licence.
Among the regarders' presentments were the cutting down of
a green oak, value 4^., by an unknown person. It was stated
that thirty load of deer-browse ought to be cut yearly for relief
326 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
of the king's game in winter, but "many yeres heretofore no
deer Browse hath been allowed or cattle for releafe of the
deare, whereby they have been forced in dead tyme of winter
to forsake the Foreste, and to seeke their releife in the Bor-
derers house groundes to the dammage and spoyle of his
Mat?68 game."
Braden was disafforested in the time of Charles II.
SAVERNAKE
The important Wiltshire forest of Severnake lay to the south
of Marl borough, and was divided into two bailiwicks, the one
in the hundred of Selkley, and the other in the hundred of
Kinwardstone.
The references to this forest in the rolls of Henry III. and
subsequent reigns, concerning royal gifts therefrom of deer,
roe deer, and timber, as well as appointments of keepers,
foresters, verderers, etc., are of very frequent occurrence.
Much, too, can be gleaned from the forest pleas and other forest
rolls. The following instances are reproduced as examples of
twenty-nine presentments of venison trespasses before the forest
justices, temp Henry VII., chiefly against the Wroughton and
Darrell families. The pleas were held at Amesbury on 25th
August, 1490 : —
' ' William Tailor vnderkeper of the verme bayle presentith that
John Wroughton esquier Thomas Wroughton John Perot William
Belson David Welshman John Barowe John Longden with other the
Thursday next after the feast of the Trinite the first yere of our
sovraigne Lord Kyng Henry the VIIth hunted Cobham Fryth Holt
Lese and the Lityll ffrithe and there kylled a Sower with bowys and
arowes.
"Thomas Kyng vnderforster of Iwode presentith that Sir Edward
Darell Knyght John Baynton gent John Cradeley David Walsman
John a Wood and John Langden with other of his servantes the
morowe after the feast of Seint John Baptiste the vth yere of our
seid sovraign Lord out of Monttisfonte Copys a Doo and a fawne
kylled in the cheif of the fense monyth and their houndes thorough
ranne the forest to the great distrucion of the Kynge peace."
An interesting portion of the old forest of Savernake, about
4,000 acres, containing much fine old timber, has been pre-
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 327
served, as it forms the noble park round Tottenham House,
the seat of the Marquis of Ailesbury. Outside the actual
deer park, on the east, is a considerable extent of heavily
timbered open ground.
CHUTE
Chute forest lay to the south-west of that of Savernake, and
extended some distance into Hampshire, though always con-
sidered to be in the main a Wiltshire forest. In early days it
seemed to have joined Savernake forest, and was at times
under the same chief keepership. The entries as to royal gifts
from this forest by Henry III. are numerous. Red deer (both
harts and hinds) were presented to royal favourites, and also
dispatched hence for the king's table ; oaks were bestowed,
inter alia, on the abbess of St. Mary's, Winchester, and on
the prioress of Amesbury for building purposes, and on the
Countess of Pembroke for repairing the mills at Newbury.
The original records relative to this forest, temp. Edward IV.
and Henry VII., are numerous. The presentments at the
swainmote courts of 1485-6 include one for creating "a
pyggyshouse " by the boundary oak within the forest. The
forester of the west baily reported the death, through murrain,
during that year, of two bucks, four does, and a sorrel, whilst
the forester of the east baily returned the death, through
a like cause, of three bucks, one sore, eight does, and three
fawns. Sir Nicholas Lysle was the warden or keeper, and
under him were three foresters for the respective wards of the
west baily, the east baily, and Hippingscomb, as well as one
riding or itinerant forester. The ministers also included two
verderers and two agisters.
These forest pleas for Chute were heard at Andover by
Justices Ratcliff and Gray, on 4th September, 1490. Sir
Nicholas Lysle, "warden by olde inheritaunce of ye Forest of
Chutte," petitioned the king, complaining of interruption of
his privileges by the forest justices. Among his vert claims
were an acre with its bear of the coppice wood set to sale,
and all wood felled and not carried away before the fence
month, which had hitherto been always allowed to him and his
ancestors for the guarding and safe keeping of the forest ;
328 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
he asked for privy seal confirming his claims to be directed to
the justices itinerant.
The verderers and regarders presented at this eyre that
Nicholas, the warden, had killed, since the last iter, twenty
deer, male and female ; also that William Colwych, one of the
foresters, had taken within his baily two stalls of bees with
their wax, of the value of 5^.
Various forest offences alleged against the warden at this
eyre were held by the justices to be proved, and he was re-
moved from his office. In 1497 various trespasses and hurts to
the forest done by Sir Nicholas were presented before Roger
Cheyne (late lieutenant of the forest) who had succeeded him
as warden, and the verderers, when he was charged with killing
the deer at Christmas.
" Item the said Sir Nicholas, abbot of Misrule, came into the said
forest on New Yeres Eve and there made chase and rechase and
kylled ij dere, and also servauntes of the said Sir Nicholas Lyles
commyth dayly into the forest and makyth chase and rechase that the
dere may not lye in rest."
In a further statement to the king, Sir Nicholas claimed that
his ancestors had for a long time held the wardenship of
Chute forest on payment of a rent of icw., and finding seven
foresters at his own cost to walk and keep the forest ; that
all the time there had been a forest lodge for the petitioner to
rest and live in for sure keeping until lately, when Sir William
Sandes entered upon it, and he prayed to be restored to it or
have a new one built ; and that the charges against him had
been made by malicious and evil-disposed persons.
The king's lodge here referred to was at "Fyckele" or
" Fynkeley " within the forest. It underwent considerable
repair at the beginning of this reign. For the new roofing
7,000 shingles were provided at a cost of 20^., and 500 shingle
nails at 8d.
On payment of certain fines, Sir Nicholas Lysle was at
length, in 1501, granted a royal pardon and restored to his
wardenship.
GROVELEY
The Wiltshire forest of Groveley was half in the hundred
of Cadworth and half in the hundred of Branch and Dole.
THE FORESTS OF WILTS 329
It was divided into north and south bailiwicks under a
single keeper. Documentary evidence from the beginning
of Henry III.'s reign is abundant with regard to this forest.
The perambulation temp. Edward I. and certain later par-
ticulars are set forth in Hoare's Wilts (iv. 183-190).
SELWOOD
The ancient forest of Selwood covered the south-western
confines of Wiltshire at the extremity of the hundred of West-
bury, together with a large portion of East Somersetshire, and
extended itself southward from Frome just across the borders
into Dorsetshire. Collinson (Somerset, ii. 195-6) gives a list
of keepers of this forest from John to Henry VI. Special
privileges in this forest were granted to the house of leprous
women of Maiden Bradley in the thirteenth century. The
material for its history, as yet unwritten, is abundant. It was
disafforested in the time of Charles I.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE FORESTS OF DORSETSHIRE
GILLINGHAM
THE county of Dorset had three royal forests at the time
of the granting of the Forest Charter of Henry III. —
Gillingham, Blackmore, and Poorstock.
Gillingham was the most important of the three, in the
extreme north of the county ; it was originally one of the
divisions of the great Somersetshire forest of Selwood. Leland
gives its dimensions, in the time of Henry VIII., as four miles
long by one broad. Material for the history of this and the
other forests of the county is abundant. In the third edition
of Hutchins' History of Dorset, the boundaries of several
perambulations of Gillingham forest, from Henry III. to
Elizabeth, are set forth, as well as abstracts of the proceedings
relative to its disafforestation (ii. 620-4, 649). It was dis-
afforested and the deer removed in 1625.
The wood sale accounts of Richard Cressebien and Mathew
Vynyng of the forest of Gillingham for 1402-3 are extant,
still enclosed in the leather pouch in which they were for-
warded to London. Mention is made in these accounts of the
sale of many Brothers," varying in price from 8s. to i6d.;
this term was a variant for roers or robora. Many details are
given of the expenses occurred in repairing lodges.
Pleas of the forest of Gillingham were held at Shaftesbury
on 2nd September, 1490, before Sir Reginald Gray, Edward
Chaderton, clerk, and Richard Empson, as justices of the forest
of Elizabeth, Queen of England, on both sides the Trent.
Those appearing were Sir John Luttrell, sheriff of the
county ; William Twynyho, esquire, lieutenant of the forest ;
William Goodwyn, ranger ; Gilbert Thomson, forester-of-fee ;
330
THE FORESTS OF DORSETSHIRE 331
two other foresters, the launder, the servant of the lieutenant,
the bailiff and his fellows of the hundred of Redlane, and
also of the manor of Gillingham, the two verderers, eight
regarders, and the reeves and " four-men " of each of the town-
ships of Gillingham, Motcombe, and Brayton.
The business transacted chiefly consisted in assigning the
perquisites of oaks, roers, and bucks to the officials, and the
registering of liberty claims within the forest. The jury of
the hundred of Redlane presented a list of various persons
who had felled oaks, but in almost each instance they knew not
the number nor the warrant.
One of the questions discussed at these pleas was the right
to a deer-leap, which formed part of the fence of a small park
three miles distant from the bounds of Gillingham Forest.
The nature of the saltatorium, or deer-leap, has been explained
in the sixth chapter. In this case the justices ordered its
removal, as a jury, after an inquest, decided that it had been
erected since the last eyre, and without any licence.
BLACKMORE
A large tract of the north and western parts of the county,
comprising several hundreds, known as the vale or forest of
Blackmore, was all forest in early Norman days ; but much of
it passed from under the forest laws in the time of Henry II.,
and still more through the Forest Charter of Henry III.
Nevertheless, a considerable district remained forest, and was
known as Blackmore forest until a much later period. The
Close Rolls, etc., of Henry III. show that the king made
many gifts of red, fallow, and roe deer out of this forest, as
well as timber. In 1230 an oak was granted for the repair of
the bridge of Corfe Castle. In the same year the forest bailiff
was instructed to supply the distant Bishop of Durham with
•seven does against Christmas ; and in the following year to
furnish the Bishop of Exeter with ten does towards stocking a
park. Camden says that it used to be known as the White
Hart Forest, and gives the following story to account for the
name. Henry III., when hunting here, ran down several
deer, and rinding a beautiful white hart amongst them, caused
its life to be spared. Shortly afterwards a neighbouring gentle-
332 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
man, one Thomas de la Linde, with his companions, hunte<
this hart and killed it at a bridge, thence called Kingstag
bridge, in the parish of Pulham. The king, in his wrath, not
only punished the offenders by imprisonment and fine, but
severely taxed all their lands, "the owners of which yearly,
ever since to this day, pay a sum of money, by way of fine 01
amercement, into the Exchequer, called White Hart Silver, ii
memory of which this county needeth no better remembrance
than this annual payment." Leland says: "This forest
streatchid from Ivelle unto the quarters of Shaftesbyri, and
touchid with Gillingham Forest that is nere Shaftesbyri." The
ancient bounds and a few other particulars are set forth in the
third edition of Hutchins' Dorset (iv. 516-19).
POORSTOCK
In the parish of Poorstock (between Beminster and Brid-
port) and the adjacent country was the old royal forest of Poor-
stock. John de la Lynde held the bailiwick of this forest in
the time of Henry III. It was of comparatively small extent ;
the perambulation of 1300 shows that it had one forester-of-fee,
Walter de la Lynde, and one verderer, Robert de Byngham.
This perambulation is set forth in Hutchins' Dorset (ii. 317).
CHAPTER XXIX
THE FORESTS OF SOMERSETSHIRE
THE county of Somerset was possessed of five consider-
able forests, namely, Mendip, Selwood, North Petherton,
Neroche, and Exmoor, the last of which stretched a little
distance into the county of Devon. Though these forests lay
wide apart from one another, more than fifty miles as the crow
flies separating Exmoor in the north-west of the county from
Mendip in the north-east, the whole of the Somersetshire
forests were under the general control of one chief warden or
keeper. William du Plessis was hereditary keeper or master
forester of the five Somerset forests in the middle of the
thirteenth century, and Sabine Pecche, his descendant, in
1300.
The forest pleas that were held for this county in 1257 show
a remarkable exception as to the beasts of the forest in the case
of the warren of Somerton. Within the bounds of this
warren the king preserved the hare as a beast of the forest.
At that eyre Philip the Knight and Robert Sinclair, the two
verderers, presented, before William le Breton and his fellow-
justices, that, on yth December, 1255, Richard le Rus and his
fellows, whose names were unknown, took four hares in
Somerton warren. The verderers further presented that in
Christmas week, 1256, a certain hare was found dead. An
inquisition was therefore made by the four townships of Somer-
• ton, Kingston, Pitney, and Wearne, who returned that the
hare died of murrain. There is no like record affecting the
hare in any other known forest proceedings throughout the king-
dom, and it was probably peculiar to this comparatively small
warren. To compel the four adjacent townships to hold an
inquest on every hare found dead or wounded — in accordance
with the laws pertaining to beasts of the forest — throughout
333
334 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
the length and breadth of the vast area under forest law in the
thirteenth century would have been impossible to Execute and
absurd to attempt.
Another interesting point about the Somerset eyre of 1257 is
the presentment of the woodwards of wood owners. It appears
that at that period the presentment of such officials before the
justices was obligatory. Thus John Syward, the woodward of
the Bishop of Bath and Wells for the wood of Cheddar, had
been presented by the bishop's steward to William de Plessis,
THE HARE (TURBERVILE)
the hereditary keeper, but not before the forest justice ; where-
upon the bishop was declared in mercy and the wood taken
into the king's hands. Before, however, the eyre closed, the
bishop's steward appeared, made fine for the wood, and pre-
sented Syward to the justices, who took the necessary oaths.
Thereupon the wood was restored to the bishop. Like proce-
dure was taken with regard to another of the bishop's wood-
wards, as well as a woodward of the abbot of St. Augustine's,
Bristol. At the same pleas, the abbess of Shaftesbury and two
laymen duly presented their respective woodwards.
Pleas of the forest were again held for Somerset in May,
FORESTS OF SOMERSETSHIRE 335
1270, when the verderers of Somerton warren again presented,
before the justices at Ilchester, several delinquents for hare
trespass.
More careful attention is given to forest history in Collinson's
History of Somerset (three vols., 1791) than in any of our other
old county histories. He cites in full from the Wells registers
the perambulations undertaken of all the forests of the county
in 1289, in order to reduce them to their ancient and lawful
bounds, in pursuance of the ratification of the forest charter
granted that year. With respect to the forest of Roche or
Neroche, the commissioners reported in favour of the disaf-
foresting of various villages, lands, and woods, which had
been afforested by King John to the great detriment of the
tenants. Almost equally great reductions of hunting-ground,
which had been illegally made forest by Henry II., Richard I.,
and John in the other Somerset forests, were at the same time
condemned and declared disafforested.
The master forestership or general keepership of all the
county forests passed from the Peche family, in the reign of
Edward III., to Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, in whose
descendants, earls of March, and in their heirs the dukes
of York, it continued until the time of Edward VI., when it
became united to the Crown. Collinson sets forth the period
of the respective disafforesting of North Petherton, Mendip,
Neroche, and Selwood ; but space prevents us giving particular
attention to any Somersetshire forest save that of Exmoor, to
which a few pages ought to be devoted.
The printed information about Exmoor Forest is exceptionally
full. In addition to that which can be gleaned from Collinson's
county history, and from Savage's History of Carhampton
Hundred (1830), Mr. Rawle, in his Annals of the Ancient
Royal Forest of Exmoor (1893), has published most of the infor-
mation that can be gained from the original forest documents at
• the Public Record Office, or from MSS. at the British Museum.
Exmoor, exclusive of the part pertaining to Devonshire, was
the largest and by far the wildest of the Somersetshire forests.
This great expanse of hilly, open country, constituting for
the most part a bleak tableland of moor, surrounded by a fringe
of well-wooded combes, was bounded on the north by the
Bristol Channel, extended some twelve or thirteen miles
336 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
inland, and was about twenty-five miles in length from east to
west. That Exmoor was a hunting-ground before the Con-
quest is made manifest by the fact that Withypool, according
to the Domesday Survey, was held by three foresters in the
days of Edward the Confessor. Whatever may have been the
area of Exmoor forest in the time of the Conqueror — Mr.
Rawle believes it to have been above 60,000 acres — it was con-
siderably increased by the encroachments of later Norman
kings, particularly of John.
A perambulation of 1279, at the Public Record Office, gives
a circuit of about fifty miles, and included within the forest
area almost the whole of the parish of Oare, portions of
Culbone, Dulverton, Exford, Porlock, and Winsford, and the
whole of Hawkridge and Withypool, together with the modern
parish of Exmoor. The perambulation stated that King John
had added to the original forest a considerable number of
adjacent parishes and manors, to an aggregate of about 20,000
additional acres, which included East and West Luccombe,
Doverhay, Stoke Pero, Woodcockleigh, Bossington, Holni-
cote, Withycombe, etc. As a consequence of the 1298 peram-
bulation for the whole county of Somerset, all the additions
made by John to the forest of Exmoor were disafforested, and
the ancient bounds as then laid down remained unaltered for
several centuries.
The justices in eyre appointed to hear the Somerset forest
pleas are known to have held their courts at Ilchester, Lang-
port, Somerton, Taunton, and Wells. Taunton, the nearest of
these court towns, was over thirty miles distant from the nearest
part of Exmoor, whilst the other towns were all upwards of
fifty — a distance that could not fail to considerably impede the
course of justice and increase its expense. At the eyre held at
Ilchester in 1257 by William le Briton and his colleagues,
twenty-six vert trespassers were presented from Exmoor ; the
highest fine was 5^., which was inflicted on a clerk, William
de Bagel ; in another case the fine was 2s. ; the remainder were
mulcted in izd. The few cases of venison trespass show that
there were both red deer and roebucks on Exmoor ; but there
is no mention of fallow deer in this or subsequent pleas and
inquisitions. At this eyre there were various presentments for
encroachments and for sowing land with wheat, rye, or oats
FORESTS OF SOMERSETSHIRE 337
(not "beans," as Mr. Rawle has it). Several offenders were
also fined half a mark for waste of wood.
At the eyre held at Ilchester in 1270, there were upwards of
fifty vert trespassers presented. In a few cases the fine was 2s. ,
but in general it was i2d. ; the justices imposed no fine in five
instances in consequence of the poverty of the offender. The
venison trespassers presented by the foresters and by Philip
de Luccombe and Richard de Bradley, the verderers, were not
numerous, considering that thirteen years had elapsed since the
last eyre. Simon, the miller of Dulverton, Ralph Bulbe, and
John de Reygny caught a stag on St. George's Day, 1259,
and carried it to the house of William de Reygny. Simon
made no appearance, and a writ was addressed to the sheriff of
Devon. Ralph could not be found, and a writ of exigent was
issued. John and William de Reygny were committed to
prison, but released on the payment of ten marks and finding
pledges for their future behaviour. In another case, Thomas
le Shetten and William Wyne were charged with entering the
forest on Easter Eve, 1267, with bows and arrows, with the
intent of wrong-doing to the king's venison. They hunted a
hind, and chased her into the wood of Longcombe, without
the forest bounds, and there caught her, and carried her away
to their houses at Molland. The same two men were charged
with often entering the forest with evil intent, when they were
harboured in the house of John, then chaplain of Hawkridge.
The chaplain came to the eyre and was put in prison, but the
other two made no appearance, and a writ for their arrest was
directed to the sheriff of Devon. Before the court was dissolved,
John the chaplain was pardoned for the sake of the king's soul
(pro anima Regis}.
At an inquisition held at Langport before a deputy justice of
the forest, in 1333, in addition to two cases of venison trespass,
Richard le Webbe and two others of Moulton were convicted
of burning the heath of 1,000 acres on the hills of the forest,
to the damage of the king and to the injury of his deer. At
the same time, William Cobbel, rector of Oare, was convicted
of felling saplings in the wood of Oare, and carrying them off
for his own purpose.
Various other inquisitions as to the state of Exmoor, held
before forest justices or their deputies at Somerton, Taunton,
338 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
and Wells during the latter part of the reign of Edward III.,
are set forth in detail by Mr. Rawle.
Mr. Rawle has, however, overlooked several entries on the
Patent and Close Rolls pertaining to Exmoor, several of which
have been already cited in earlier chapters.
In 1324, John Everard, the escheator of the four western
counties, was ordered to deliver to Eleanor, widow of Ralph de
Gorges, and mother of Ralph his heir, aged 15, two parts of
a third of the manor of Brampton, co. Devon, as the king
learnt by inquisition that Ralph held at his death a third of
that manor of the king in chief, by service of finding the king
an arrow when the king came or sent to Exmoor to take venison
there, the arrow to be delivered to the king's huntsman.
In November, 1377, Richard II. granted Baldwin Badyngton,
king's esquire, and Matilda his wife, to enclose at pleasure,
notwithstanding the assize of the forest, all their demesne
lands in Somerset within the metes of the forests of Exmoor
and Petherton, which had been wasted and destroyed year by
year by the deer, so as to prevent the deer from entering, and
thus to hold these premises for their lives.
Peter de Courtenay obtained in 1382, during the minority
of the heir, the custody of the forest of Exmoor, which was in
the king's hands since the death of Edmund, Earl of March.
Edward IV., in 1462, granted for life to William Bourgchier,
of Fitzwaren, knight, the master forestership of Exmoor, re-
ceiving the usual fees in the same manner as Thomas Courtenay,
late Earl of Devon. Six years later the king granted the same
office for life to Humphrey Stafford, knight, on the death of
William Bourgchier. In 1470, John Dynham obtained from
the Crown the grant for life of the custody of the king's
forests of Exmoor and Neroche, with the herbage and pan-
nage and the courts of swainmote, rendering yearly to the
king forty marks.
Henry VII., when he came to the throne in 1485, seems to
have put the control of the venison of Exmoor into the hands
of his chamberlain, Lord Daubeny.
On the marriage of Henry VIII. with Catherine of Aragon,
Exmoor was settled on the queen as part of her jointure. In
1520 Sir Thomas Boleyn covenanted with the Earl of Devon-
shire to give up certain forests, offices, etc., which he held of
FORESTS OF SOMERSETSHIRE 339
Queen Catherine at a yearly rent of £46 13$. 4^., saving and
reserving 100 deer to remain in the forest of Exmoor. The
forest was afterwards held by Henry's third wife, Jane Sey-
mour.
In 1598 Hugh Pollard was ranger of the forest, and kept a
pack of hounds at Simonsbath. James I. granted Exmoor
forest to his queen, Anne of Denmark. Charles I., on
coming to the throne, granted a lease for 22^ years to the
Earl of Pembroke of "the Forest and Chace of Exmore in
the counties of Devon and Somerset, and of the manor of
Exmore for fourteen years . . . with a further clause of liberty to
him to build a lodge in the forest at his chardges, and to
enclose and lay one hundred acres of land thereunto."
In 1630 the king was petitioned to disafforest Exmoor in
favour of an influential applicant. The petition was granted,
but further action was not taken. In the royal library at
Windsor is a warrant, dated 5th August, 1637, under the sign
manual of Charles I., directing the ranger of Exmoor to deliver
to Mr. Wyndham "one fatt stagg " ; a facsimile of this docu-
ment forms the frontispiece to Mr. Rawle's volume.
Within a few months of his accession, Charles II. granted a
lease of Exmoor for 39 years to James Butler, Marquis of
Ormonde.
In 1784 a lease of the forest and chase of Exmoor, with the
courts and royalties, was granted to Sir Thomas Dyke Ac-
land, Bart. This was the last lease granted by the Crown.
In 1815 an Act of Parliament was passed for the disafforest-
ing and enclosing of Exmoor. The extent of the forest was
then found to be only 18,810 acres, which were thus allotted : A
little more than one-half to the king ; one-eighth to Sir T. D.
Acland in lieu of the tithes of the whole forest, which he held ;
and the remainder to "owners of certain estates, to which free
suits were attached, and to several other persons in respect of
• old enclosed tenements lying in various parishes bordering on
the forest." The king's portion was at once offered for sale,
and his 10,000 acres were purchased by Mr. John Knight for
£50,000.
Thus ended the royal rights over the ancient forest of
Exmoor, which had their origin in days prior to the Norman
Conquest.
CHAPTER XXX
THE FOREST OF DARTMOOR
WHILST far too little has hitherto been printed about
many of England's forests, the reverse is true with
regard to Dartmoor. The mere list of books and
publications relating to Dartmoor, its history, scenery, an-
tiquities, and convicts, covers twelve pages of the last edition
of Rowe's Perambulation. Much of this is, however, of an
ephemeral character, and the only two books that give serious
information as to the history of the forest or chase are
J. S. W. Page's Exploration of Dartmoor (1889), and the one
just named. The Perambulation of Dartmoor, by Samuel Rowe,
vicar of Crediton, a good antiquary of his day, was first
published in 1848; it was reprinted in 1856, and in 1896
brought out again in a much extended and corrected form by
J. Brooking Rowe, F.S.A. This last admirable volume gives
in extenso a variety of historical documents from a charter
of John in 1199 down to an interesting presentment of the
jurors of a court of survey in 1786. Nevertheless, a con-
tinuous history of this forest or chase yet remains to be
written.
In the following brief remarks a mere bare outline of the
general run of such a history is all that is attempted ; whilst
the additional documentary evidence cited has, to the best
of our belief, never before been printed.
The whole forest of Dartmoor lies within the old parish
of Lydford, by far the largest parish in all England. The wild
table-land of the forest in the centre of the shire, with its
adjacent common lands, hardly distinguishable from the forest
proper, covers some 100,000 acres, whilst the actual forest has,
340
THE FOREST OF DARTMOOR 341
in round numbers, an acreage of 60,000. The district is about
twenty-eight miles long from north to south, and about twenty-
six miles wide from east to west. The nature of this granite
table-land makes it certain that Dartmoor was never covered
to any considerable extent with timber, although there was
doubtless more underwood in places, diversified by occasional
growth of oak, alder, and willow in the more sheltered
glades.
By a charter of John, i8th May, 1204, all lands in Devon-
shire, save the forests of Dartmoor and Exmoor, were dis-
afforested, thus anticipating the great charter of 1215, so far as
this county was concerned.
In 1222 Henry III. directed the bailiffs of the once im-
portant borough of Lydford to permit the tinners of Devon
to take peat from his moor of Dartmoor for the use of the
stannary.
Henry III., in 1228, granted to Adam Esturney certain lands,
which Roger Mirabel had held of the king in chief, in
Skerradon and Shapelegh, by the service of two barbed
arrows when the king came to hunt in his chase of Dartmoor.
The manor of Woodbury was held in chief of the king by
the service of three barbed arrows and an oat cake of the price
of half a farthing, when the king should come to Dartmoor for
hunting in his chase. The ancient tenure of the manor of
Druscombe also shows that royal hunting over this waste,
then so well stocked with deer, was anticipated, for the lord
had to present a bow and three arrows to the king when
hunting on the moor.
In 1236, the king granted the tithe of the herbage or
agistment of Dartmoor to the chaplain serving the church
of St. Petrock at Lydford.
In 1240, the sheriff was directed to summon a jury to deter-
mine, by perambulation, the bounds of Dartmoor Forest.
Of this perambulation there are several early copies. An
ancient quaint map of the forest, of which a photograph is
given by Mr. Brooking Rowe, is extant that has generally
been supposed to be coeval with this perambulation, but it
is probably two centuries later in date.
An entry on the Close Rolls, dated 23rd January, 1251, shows
that the very rare privilege of having a justice in eyre for
342 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
forest pleas, for a forest that was not strictly royal, was
granted to Richard Earl of Cornwall, to whom the castle,
manor, borough of Lydford and the forest of Dartmoor had
been granted.
Geoffrey of Langley, justice of the forest, was at that
date ordered by the king, as a concession to the Earl of
Cornwall, when he had finished the eyre then being held in
the county of Nottingham, to proceed to Dartmoor for a like
purpose.
Mr. Brooking Rowe prints a rendering of the ministers'
accounts of Edmund Earl of Cornwall relative to Dartmoor
for the years 1296-7. The items are arranged under the heads
of the borough and manor Lydford, including the fee-farm
rent, and profits arising from water-mill, fairs, toll-tin, and
stray cattle ; and the forest, including profits from water-mill,
from township fines for pasturing cattle, from peat-diggers,
from the agistment of 2,442 cattle at \\d. a head, from 487
horses at 2d. each horse, and from pannage, etc. There were
various court fines chiefly for straying cattle, but two for tres-
pass during the fence month show that some care was taken of
the red deer. Under the head of allowances, 6os. is entered as
paid to the parson of Lydford, and 42$. for the stipends and
drink money (poutura) of the foresters, with 22^. for their ex-
penses in the fence month, and stipends and drink money
for twelve herdsmen from 3rd May to i5th August, j6s. 6d.
There was a clear balance on the whole account for the Earl of
Cornwall of ^44 2s.
That the deer were well warded, in addition to the cattle, is
shown by the supplies of salted venison that were sent to
Edward I. and Edward II. from this forest.
From the reign of Edward III. to that of James I. there are
various ministers' accounts and court rolls among the duchy
muniments at the Public Record Office. The forest was
divided into four quarters or wards, known from the points of
the compass as East, West, North, and South, and the
accounts of each were kept separately. The accounts of Robert
de Cleford, the keeper and receiver of the moneys for turves,
agistments, etc., for the years 1354-5, show the following par-
ticulars for the first three wards, that for the South being
mutilated : —
THE FOREST OF DARTMOOR 343
East. — 2,641 cattle and 198 horses agisted, and five peat-
cutters licensed — producing £34 js. $d.
West. — 1,408 cattle and thirty-seven horses agisted, and
twenty-two folds and twelve peat-cutters licensed — producing
£10 2s. g^d.
North. — 298 cattle, 163 horses, fourteen folds, and thirty-one
peat-cutters — producing .£5 is. 6\d.
The charge right through these accounts for a long period
was i\d. a head for cattle and 2d. a head for horses, 2d. for
each fold, and $d. from each peat-digger. Those who dug
peat for fuel are termed carbonarii, which has been absurdly
translated colliers, and mention of early coal-getting on Dart-
moor has been more than once printed. But the geological
formation makes such an idea impossible.
Ralph Houle was the receiver in 1370-1, and his accounts for
two wards yield the following particulars.
East Ward. — 2,762 cattle agisted within the forest, and 1,762
without the forest ; five horses agisted within the forest, and
twenty-nine without. This agistment, in addition to the pay-
ments of thirteen peat -cutters, $8s. lod. in rents, gave a
total of £29 15^-. nd.
West Ward. — 952 cattle and twelve horses agisted, whilst
thirty-eight men paid for folds and thirteen to cut peat. This,
with us. nd. rents, made a total of £g gs. io\d. Among the
outgoings were the 6os. of tithe, which appears in every
account, 6s. 8d. to the clerk who drew up the returns, and the
stipends of two foresters.
The court rolls of 1381-2 have the heading^ venatione infra
forestam several times, but no entry follows.
The accounts for 1387-8 give John Copleston as the
king's steward in Devonshire. John Prik was the forester-
bailiff of the West forest ; the money wages for two foresters
was only 1 3*?. ^d. , but they each received an additional 6d. a week
during the four weeks of the deer-calving time, or fence
month. For the North forest, Robert Colleshull was forester-
bailiff, and Ralph Brante for the East forest ; in both cases the
wages were the same as in the West ward. Much of this roll
is illegible.
The ministers' accounts for 1403-4 give Henry Burgeye as
receiver, and he accounts for the borough of Lydford. William
344 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Wykes was forester for North Dartmoor ; 1,307 cattle, ninety-
one horses, forty-two peat-cutters, and twenty-four folds. Aver
Wonstan was forester for East Dartmoor; 1,693 cattle, 133
horses, twenty-one peat-cutters, and twelve folds. William
Ysabel was forester for South Dartmoor; 1,600 cattle, forty-
nine horses, sixteen peat-cutters, and twelve folds. William
Kelly was forester for West Dartmoor; 1,780 cattle, ninety-
seven horses, sixteen peat-cutters, and twelve folds.
A bundle of court rolls of the beginning of Henry V.'s reign,
1399-1405, contain many interesting forest details. At a
court for East Dartmoor held a Lydford on St. Luke's Day,
there were various fines for unwarranted agistment, and one
charge of hunting with greyhounds at Myrepitte on Christmas
Day. Though not so styled, there were evidently the regular
swainmote courts held in forests every forty days, for courts
were also held, for the year 1399-1400, in February, on the
Feast of St. David, at Easter, Sts. Philip and James, Whitsun-
tide, St. John Baptist, St. Mark, and the Assumption — nine
in all.
There were also eight courts held for West Dartmoor, on
days quite apart from those for the east ward, including St.
Clement's, Christmas, St. Valentine's, and St. Gregory's Days.
There is a full list for 1399-1400 of those who turned their
cattle (averia) out in East Dartmoor. The contrast is con-
siderable between the rich John Abraham — (was he of Jewish
descent?) — who turned out 300 head, and Walter atte Heade
who had only a single beast. The total of the cattle is 1,970,
and the agistment money came to £>ig 6s. ^d.
The ministers' accounts for 1403-4 show a still large number
of agisted cattle on East Dartmoor, namely, 3,159, in addition
to twenty-nine horses; the peat-cutters numbered thirty. Richard
Wyte was the bailiff-forester. The wages for two foresters stand
as in earlier accounts, and there is also los. paid for a warden of
the cattle collected at the pound of Dunbryge, and for a clerk
writing out the list and aiding in impounding them. In
Rowe's Perambulation there are several references to
Dunbridge, or Dunnabridge, pound, usually called the duchy
pound, of a much later date. The sum of 3^. 4^. was paid
this year for parchment on which to write the East Dartmoor
agistment lists. The bailiff-forester for West Dartmoor for
THE FOREST OF DARTMOOR 345
that year was Alfred Wonstan ; he returned 1,430 cattle,
thirty-two horses, and twenty-one peat-cutters, but no fold
money (faldagium) ; for this ward there were also two paid
foresters with an assistant herdsman for the Dunbridge pound.
South Dartmoor (John Grendon) had 2,012 cattle, thirty-six
horses, and seventeen peat-cutters ; whilst North Dartmoor
(John Wyke) had 1,401 cattle, eighty-nine horses, and thirty-
three peat-cutters. These two wards also each paid for two
foresters and an assistant for the Dunbridge pound. This
great pound, between Two Bridges and Dartmeet, is a large
enclosure measuring 350 feet from east to west, and 330 feet
from north to south. Rowe describes the wall as nearly
6 feet high where perfect.
The ministers' accounts for 1451-2 yield the following
agistment returns :—
East West South North
Cattle . . 1,208 ... 1,248 ... 1,696 ... 1,045
Horses . . 42 ... 21 ... 40 ... 26
This shows a considerable falling off from the returns of half a
century earlier date.
The agistment entries more than a century later, in the
court rolls for the forest of 1571-2, give the numbers of the
cattle on North Dartmoor as 1,224; they belonged to fifty-four
owners: Thomas Whyte owned 208, Thomas Ware 150, and
Stephen Knight forty-eight, whilst some only owned one beast.
Under Nomina delinquent* infra foresf are the names of
Stephen Knight and thirty others who were each fined 3^. for
agistment offences. There were only thirteen horses. Agistment
of sheep (bidentes) now appear on the rolls ; of these there
were twenty-one owners, and their flocks on the moor varied
from 300 to 10 ; the total number of the sheep was 830, and
their agistment fees amounted to 25^. nd. The cattle on South
Dartmoor numbered 1,043, and the horses nine ; whilst twelve
persons turned out 346 sheep for los. *j\d. On West
Dartmoor the cattle numbered 1,619, and the horses twenty,
but there were no sheep. On East Dartmoor there were 2,079
cattle, twenty horses, and 100 sheep. Five persons each turned
out a score, and paid the aggregate sum of y. \\d., so the
charge for sheep was *]\d. the score. In each ward there
346 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
were a number of delinquents who paid 3^. fines. The total
of the peat-cutters, who still paid $d. each, on the whole moor
was thirty-five.
The court rolls for some twenty years later, namely, for
1595-6, show that the sheep were increasing. There were 843
in the north quarter, 1 10 in the east, and 246 in the west ; the
return for the south quarter is missing.
In the reign of James the sheep on the whole materially
increased, at the expense of the cattle. The proportions for
the north quarter in 1609-10 were 746 cattle, thirteen horses,
and 1,560 sheep ; but they fluctuated much, for in 1617-19 the
cattle of the same quarter numbered 640, the horses seven, and
the sheep 600.
The introduction of sheep on Dartmoor probably showed a
diminution in the deer, or, at all events, less attention to their
interests ; for although red deer, where they roam widely, are
not nearly so much affected by sheep pasturage as fallow deer,
still it was always the principle to restrict sheep very narrowly
in royal forests even when tenanted by the larger deer.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century the red deer had
become so plentiful on Dartmoor that the farmers bitterly com-
plained, and at last they were exterminated by the staghounds
of the Duke of Bedford, sent down from Woburn for that pur-
pose. It has been said that "Tavistock was so glutted with
venison that only the haunches of the animals killed were
saved, the rest being given to the hounds," but this is obvi-
ously a somewhat ridiculous exaggeration. Of late years red
deer occasionally find their way to Dartmoor, straying thither
from Exmoor, although its nearest point is over forty miles
distant.
The return of the jurors of the court of survey of the manor
of Lydford and the forest of Dartmoor on i3th October, 1786,
as parcel of the possessions of the Duchy of Cornwall, is cited
in full by Mr. Rowe. It supplies interesting particulars as to
the then obligation of the tenants to assist the foresters of the
east, south, and west quarters to make a winter drift for the
colts at their own charge, and to drive them to Dunnabridge
pound and keep them there for two days and three nights, and
thence to the Prince's pound at Lydford, all at their own
charge save the taking from the forester one halfpenny white
THE FOREST OF DARTMOOR 347
loaf of bread apiece ; also to help in the three summer drifts of
cattle between Midsummer and Lammas after like fashion,
under pain of 6s. 8d.
A further presentation by the jurors was with regard to
divers towns or villages abutting on the forest and within the
purlieu, whose cattle did daily escape into the forest. Such
offenders were subject to fine, which fine was turned into a
rent called Fines Villarum, hence those who dwell in these
townships and pay these rents are called Venvillemen. They
further presented that Venvillemen, in return for the rent,
may keep as many cattle as they can winter on their tenements
in the forest, and may cut turf for their own use.
The Venville parishes number twenty-one. When the drifts
were made, Venvillemen could recover their cattle or colts
without paying any fine or charge, but the other remained
pounded till the due fee had been discharged. The drift was
summoned by the sound of a horn.
Every parish of the county has a right to send cattle to this
moor save Barnstaple and Totnes.
The duchy now lets the four quarters of Dartmoor to the
moormen, who in return charge a small fee for every sheep,
bullock, or horse turned out not belonging to a Venvilleman,
and this fee includes, as it did of old, a pledge of protection.
None of our English forests have so many of their original
boundary or ancient guide stones remaining as that of Dart-
moor, and the reason is sufficiently obvious, namely, the
imperishable character of the granite that abounds throughout
the district. Such stones almost naturally assumed the shape
of a cross in the days of the simple vivid faith of our forefathers.
The old grey cross standing up on the bare moor would not
only tell the moormen or the Venvillemen of the bounds of
their respective rights, or point out the path to be taken by
the wayfarer, but would serve to keep in remembrance the
Saviour of mankind. In one of the earliest printed English
books, by Wynken de Word, in the fifteenth century, occur
these words : —
" For this reason ben Crosses by ye waye, that whan folke
passynge see the Crosses, they sholde thynke on Hym that dyed on
the Corss, and worshyppe Hym above all thynge."
348 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND
Notwithstanding the mischief that has been done to these
Dartmoor forest crosses, by wanton ignorance or Puritan
malevolence, upwards of thirty still remain. They are ad-
mirably described and illustrated by Mr. William Crossing,
in his Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor (1887).
INDEX
Abbenhalle, 277, 278
,, Ralph, 71, 277, 278
Abraham, John, 344
Acclam family, 113
Account of English Deer Parks, 85
Ackworth park, 76, 80
Acland, Bart., Sir Thomas Dyke, 339
Acle, Reginald de, 245, 288
,, Roger, 247
Acornbury forest, 7
Acres, Jean d', 227
Acton Burn ell, 225
Acton Henry de, 135
Adam, huntsman, 49
,, the fowler of Ayton, 39
Adderley, Nicholas, 191
"Afforestation," 5
Agard, John, 172, 194
,, Ralph, 172
,, William, 142, 176, 197
Agardsley, 138, 142
Agisters, 10, 14, 23-4, 41
Agricultural Reports of Leicestershire of
Alant, 50
Albemarle, George Monk, Duke of,
322
Albiny, Philip de, 323
Alconbury, 269
Aldborough, Richard de, 213
Aldburgh, 125
Alder, 73, 74
Alderbury, 314, 322
Alderwasley, 73, 186, 191, 192, 195, 202
Alexander, King of Scotland, 91
Alice Holt forest, 78, 85, 309-10
Alisson, Henry, 189
Allantofts, 116
Allen, Thurston, 168
Allerdale, 92
Allerston, 45
Allerton, 213, 216
Alne, the, 87, 90, 92, 129
Alnwick Castle, 90
„ forest, 7, 77, 88, 89, 90
Alsop, John, 194
Alston, 91
Alton, 245
Alvandeley, Richard de, 102
Alvechurch, 147
Alverston forest, 7
Ambassadors, 77, 78
Ambros, Richard, 317
Amesbury, 313, 314, 324, 326, 327
Amice, Widow, 148
Amond, Robert, 140
Amounderness forest, 44, 45, 80, 98, 102,
104
Ampthill, 78, 79
Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor, 348
Andover, 327
Andredes-weald, 301
Andville, John de, 156
Anecdotes of Cranborne Chase, 82
Ankirk, 288
Annals of the Ancient Royal Forests of
Exmoor, 335
Anne of Denmark, 339
Anne, Queen, 219
Annesley, 215
Apethorpe, 253
Aquitium, 160
Arabilis, 72
Aragon, Catherine of, 338, 339
Archer, Richard, 228
„ Thomas le, 161
Arden forest, 229
,, Simon, 197
Arley, 148
Armiger, 192
Arnold forest, 213, 219
Arrow, the, 229
Arsic, Robert, 258
Art de Venerie, L' , 61
Arundel forest, 302
,, Edmund, Earl of, 318
,, Thomas, 318
Ash, 68, 73, 74, 263, 293
Ashborne, John de, 54
Ashbourne, Robert de, 154
349
350
INDEX
Ashdale, 94, 95
Ashdown, 37, 301, 302
Ashfield, 132, 219
Ashley hay, 186, 202
Ashop, 170, 173, 177
Ashover, 167
Ashpotts, 74
Ashton, 325
Ashwood, 148
Aspen, 68
Assarts, u, 12
Assheton, William, 193
Assize of Woodstock, u, 68
Aston, 150, 159, 240
,, Hugh de, 228
Astune, Walter de, 227
Atherton de Ayntre, Henry de, 102
Atkyn's Ancient and Present State of
Gloucestershire, 274
Attachment court, the, 13, 14
Attewell, Adam, 34
Avenel, William, 205
Avon, the, 38, 227
„ Micah, 95
Awdley, Sir James, 311
Axe-bearer, 19, 23, 153
Axieholt, 309
Ayer, Robert, 169
Aylesbury, Walter de, 228
Ayston, 236
Ayton, Gilbert, 40, 45
Babington, Anthony, 194
,, Thomas, 168, 172
Babthorp, Master, 1 19
Bacon, Richard, 320
,, Robert, 244
Badelesmere, Gaucelin de, 131
Badger, 35, 36-7
Badyngton, Baldwin, 338
,, Matilda, 338
Bagel, William le, 336
Baggley, Ralph, 293
Bagley, 257
Bagnall House, 85
Bagott, Stephen, 174, 175
Bagshawe, George, 170
,, Thomas, 171, 174, 175
,, William, 164, 171, 175
Bagshott, 298
Bagworth, 54
Bailiwick, 14, 19
Bailly, Robert, 311
Baines" Lancashire, 98
Baker, 172, 237
Bakewell, 151, 153, 167
Baldere, Richard, 191
Baldlyston, Simon de, 103
Banastre, Adam, 103
,, Thomas, 103
Bantrum, William, 292
Barbery, Booth, 166
Barbille, 1 19
Barbour, Edward, 170, 171
,, George, 323
,, John, 323
,, Thomas, 323
Bardley, 226
Bardolf, John, 214
Bardulf, William, 206
Barking, abbess of, 34
Barley, Humphrey, 175
Barlowe, George, 171
Barnack, 239
Barnsdale, 235
Barnstaple, 347
Barre, Peter de la, 209
Barton, 138, 139, 141, 142
,, Robert de, 93
,, William de, 239
Barylgate, 118
Basford, 214, 219
Basingwerk, 13, 134, 154, 158, 160, 166,
173
Baskerville, Walter, 36
Baslow, Richard de, 164
Bass, 72
Basset, Ralph, 147, 148
,, Sir Robert, 58, 242
Bassethawe, 58
Bast, 72, 141
Bateson, Miss, 232
Baveney, 226
Baynton, Henry, 325
Beagle, 50
Beard, 167
Beasts of the forests, 25-40
Beauchamp, James, 228
,, John de, 259
,, Sir Richard, 323
,, Sir William de, 306
Beauchief Abbey, 13
Beaufoy, Ralph de, 155
Beauliew, 307
Beaumont, 234, 235, 237
Beauties of England and Wales, 221
Bebington, 131
Beckford, 64
Beech, 68, 73, 311
Beeching, 302
Bees and honey, 39-40
Bek, Anthony, 88, 115, 126, 147, 148, 208
,, Thomas, 208
„ Walter, 208
Beler, Roger, 189
Belper, 8, 33, 43, 54, 183, 184, 185, 186,
188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 198, 199, 200,
202, 203
Belton, 236
Belvoir, 168
Benefield, 241, 242, 243, 244
,, Laund, 255
INDEX
Benselin, Henry, 239
Bentinck, William, 95
Bentley, 229
Bercelet, 48, 52, 53
Bere forest, 85, 309, 310-12
Beresford Dale, 32
Berewyk, Adam de, 101
,, Thomas de, 101
Bergh, Alexander de, in
,, Bernard de, in
Berkeley, Maurice, 236
Berkshire forest, 266-7
Bermondsey, 69
Bernake, Gervase de, 33, 160
Bernarius, 53
Berner, the, 53
Bernes, Dame Julyana, 63
Bernwood forest, 35, 257, 258, 260, 261,
262, 267, 268
Berse, 277
Bertram, Roger, 88
Berwick, 109
Bestwood, 76, 206, 207, 213, 215, 216,
222
Bethune, Thomas de, 99
Bevercote, William de, 212
Bewdley, 225, 226
Bewell, Thomas, 171
Bicester, 257
Bicknoure, 277
Bidentes, 345
Bigg, Walter, 165
Biggin, 191, 198
Bigland's Historical Collections, 274
Bigod, Hugh, 240
Bigot, Robert, 115
,, Sir Ralph, 122
Bikerstack, Ralph de, 104
Bilhagh, 217, 218, 219, 220, 222
Billahaugh, 207
Binsted, 245
Birch, 68, 73, 74
Birkhow, 115
Birkin, John de, 205
,, Thomas de, 205
Birkland, 217, 218, 220, 222
Birkley, 140, 142
Birkley Lodge, 42
Birton, Joan de, 214
,, Ralph de, 214
Bishop of Lichfield's Chase, 146
• Bishops Waltham, 81
Blackbrook, 153, 198
Blackburn, 98
Blackburnshire forest, 32, 98, 104, 105,
106
Blackmore, 330, 331-2
,, vale of, 86
Blackthorn, 68, 73, 74
Blackwater bridge, 290
Blackwell, George, 174
Blagden, 37
Blagge, Mrs. Mary, 80
Elaine's Encyclopedia of Rural Sports,
32
Blake, John, 323
Blakeney, 277
Blakey Moor, 112
Blandford, 84, 265
Blandsby, 57, 119, 120, 124
Blandy park, 109
Blane, Richard, 64
Bleasdale forest, 80, 98, 99, 100
Blestro, 75
Blettra, 75
Bleythe, 277
Blidworth, 204, 217, 222
Bligh, 205, 206
Bliorth, 212
Blisworth, 246
Bloodhound, 50
Blount, Henry, 226, 227
,, Walter, 168
,, William le, 102
Blundel, William, 99
Blyth, 207
Boar, wild, 25, 26, 30-2, 107-8, 154, 275
Bode, Agnes, 209
„ Robert, 209
Bois, Thomas de, 289
Boke of Saint Albans, The, 63
Bolas, 72
Boldon Book, the, 97
Boldre, 73
Boleyn, Sir Thomas, 338
Bolt by, 213
Bona vacantia, 5
Bononia, Sir Francis de, 35, 260
Booth, 43, 1 66
Bordesley, 228
Boroughbridge, 109
Bosco, Ernald de, 258
Bossington, 336
Bot, John, 213
" Bounderers," 9
Bourchier, Sir Thomas, 292, 295
,, William, 323
Bow-bearer, 20, 94, 106, 177
Bowden, 152, 159, 170
Bower Chalk, 82
Bowland forest, 32, 98, 104
Bowls, 72
Bowood, 85, 324, 325
Boynton family, 113
Bozon, Robert, 161
Brabazon, Richard, 100
Brache, 48, 50
Bradburn, 69
Bradburne, Henry de, 190
,, Humphrey, 193, 194
,, John, 192
,, William, 202
352
INDEX
Bradeford, Robert de, 134
Braden, 325-6
Bradfield, Thomas, 191
Bradley, 192
,, Richard de, 337
Bradshaw, 69, 200
Anthony, 200, 201
Henry, 191
John, 190, 191, 193, 195
Robert, 195
William, 200
Braithwait, 93
Brampton, 116, 338
Bramshill, 81
Branch, 328
Brandenburgh, Duke of, 79
Branding irons, 284
Brante, Ralph, 334
Braose family, 302
,, William, 302
Braundeston, Matilda de, 246
Braunston, 234, 235, 236
Bray, 295
,, Ralph de, 101
,, Sir Reynold, 169
Braydon, 60, 81
Bray ton, 331
Breadsall, 213
Bren, Llewellyn, 279
Bret, John le, 213, 215
,, Thomas, 35
Breton, William le, 244, 260, 269, 333
Breward, 146
Brewere, William de, 31, 258
Brewood, 147, 148, 223
Bridevvode, 279
Bridford, 292
Bridge Casterton, 234
Bridge, Mr., 237
Bridgman, Sir Orlando, 324
Bridgnorth, 146, 148, 223, 224, 225
Bridlington, 116, 117
Brien, Guy de, 279
Brigstock, 35, 58, 240, 241, 242, 243,
248, 250, 252, 253, 255, 256
Brill forest, 267
Bristol, 280
Bristwick park, 76
Britford, 313
Briton, Ralph, 267
Brockshaw, John, 200
Brodeles, 59
Brodenstoke, 324
Broksylver, 167
Bromall, John, 170
Bromley, 104
,, Thomas de, 146
Brook, 235, 236
Brotherton, 126
Broughton, 44, 45, 102, 103
Brown, Thomas, 172
Bruce, Robert, 109
Bruern, 258, 261
Bruges, 148
Bruys, Matilda de, 36
Brymore, John de, 306
Brymyngeshoe, 118
Buck, the, 25
Buckholt, 313, 315, 316, 317
Buckhounds, 49
Buckinghamshire forest, 267-8
Buckstalls, 56-7
Buddlesgate, 311
Budley, 207
Budworth, 133
Bugg, Ralph, 160
Bulax, 245
Bulbe, Ralph, 337
Bulkeley, Roger, 318
Bullsmore, 184, 188, 189
Bulmer, 128
Bulners, Peter, 187
Bulwick, 253
Burford, 258
Burgeye, Henry, 343
Burgs, Henry de, 206
Burleigh, Lord, 298
Burnell, Hugh, 225
,, Robert, 225
Burton, 96, 140
,, Mr., 231
Burton-on-Trent, 140
Burtonwood forest, 99
Bushie Park, 78
Butter, Henry, 200, 201
,, James, Marquis of Ormonde,
339
Butterly, 194
Buxted, 301
Buxton, 159
Mr. E. N., 86, 283, 286
Byfleet, 293
Bygley, Ralph, 38
Bygod, Roger, Earl of Norfolk, in
Byke, a, 40
Byngham, Robert de, 332
Byron, Sir John, 196, 216
Cableicium or cablicium, 7
Cadworth, 328
Caius, Dr., 48
Caldew, 92
Caldon, 236
Calne, 322, 324
Calton Park, 77
Calverton, 14, 212, 215
Cambrencis, Giraldus, 154
Camden, Mr., 331
Camerton, Andrew de, 306
Camhead, 163
Campana, 151, 152, 153, 154, 160, 161,
165, 168, 170, 173, 183
INDEX
353
Campestres, 63
Candover, 225
,, Philip de, 52
Canes cheverolereq, 49
Cannock Chase, 145-8
,, forest, 34
Canonpath, 316
Cantelupe manor, 276
Cantilupe, Mabel de, 8
,, William, 240
Canute, 4, 44, 68
" Capille," 171
Capistra, 59
Capoun, Sir Robert, 109
Capriolus, 29
Carbonarii, 343
Carburton, 207
Cardell, 69
Cardticis. Thomas de, 208
Carlisle, 90, 91, 122
,, John, Bishop of, 215
Carlton, 220, 242, 248
,, William, 127
Carnabie, Cuthbert, 89, 90
Cassy, Sir John, 180
Castiard, 71, 278
Castle Donnington, 54
Castlehay, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144
Castlehay park, 80
Castleman, Mr., 84
Castleton, 150, 151, 152, 156, 165, 167
Cat, wild, 33, 36
Caton, John de, 100
,, Ralph de, 40
Cattle, 42-3, 342-5
Catulos, 34
Caux, Matilda de, 205
Cave, Sir Ambrose, 174, 196
Cavendish, Henry, Lord, 80, 144
Cawledge park, 90
Cervericii canes, 49
Cervus elaphas, 26
Chablis, 7
Chaddesden, 155
Chaddesley, 149
Chaderton, Edward, 330
Chafin, Mr., 82
Chamber of the Forest, 152, 168, 171
» M Peak, 152
Champagne, 183, 190
Champyon, the, 174
Chapel, 167
Chapel-en-le-Frith, 151, 152, 163, 166,
i 68, 179
Chappell Henalt Walk, 78
Chapter, the, 1 1
Charcoal burning", 137
Charlbury, 262
Charlcote, Thomas de, 261
Charles I., 77, 179, 201, 297
„ II., 32, 79, 95, 130, 143, 144
2 A
Charnwood forest, 231-2
Charnivood Forest, 231
Charter of the Forest, the, 3, 6, 8, 9, 12,
13, 22, 40, 42, 47, 60, 95, 227, 229, 284,
330, 33i
Chase, a, 2
Chaumpvent, Peter de, 92
Cheddar forest, 7, 334
Chelmorton, 153, 167, 178
Cheminage and Fence Month, 59-61,
127, 147, 187, 272
Chertsey, 34, 38, 287, 288, 290, 293
Cheselden, John, 236
Cheshire forest, 20, 131-6
Cheshire, Ormerod's, 131
Chester, 36, 38, 39, 131, 132, 134, 136,
206
Chesterfield, 205
Chestnut, sweet, 68, 71, 278
Chettle Common, 84
,, Lodge, 84
Cheut forest, 78
Cheverellus, 29
Chevin, 192, 198, 202, 203
,, House, 199, 200
Chevinsyde, 201
Chevrones, 206
Cheyne, Roger, 328
Child, Mr. T. F., 204
Chilterns, the, 257
Chilton Foliat, 266
Chingford, 283
„ Walk, 78
Chinley Common, 32
Chippenham, 322, 323
Chipping, 105
Chisworth, 179
Cholmley, Richard, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124
,, Roger, 122
Christchurch, 38
Churchill, 149
Chute forest, 290, 327-8
Chyllynton, 146
Chymynagium, 59
Clare, Gilbert de, 227
Clare, Robert, 31
Claret, John, 157
Clarendon forest, 7, 9, 13, 20, 29, 31, 37,
38, 39, 41, 43, 49. 52, 56, 57, 71, 73,
85, 313-22
Clark, Richard, 200
Claughton forest, 101
Clay, 219
Clee forest, 226
Cleford, Robert de, 342
Cleley, 237
Cleobury, 225
Clerk, Philip le, 148
Clewer, 58
Cliff forest, 46, 239, 240, 250, 251, 252,
255. 256
354
INDEX
Cliff, William de, 275
Clifford family, 226
,, Isabel de, 92
,, Robert de, 71, 92
,, Rog-er de, 148, 276, 278, 288
Clifton, 129, 213
Clipston forest, 7, 207, 212, 213, 215
Clitheroe, 98, 104
Clowe, Thomas a, 58
Clumber, 219, 221
Clypston Park, 76
Clyve, Thomas de, 135
Coan, Robert, 137
Cobbel, William, 337
Cobham, 287, 288
Cockayne, Sir Thomas, 64
Cockshut, a, 39
,, farm, 39
Coit Andred, 301
Cokayne, Sir Edward, 201
,, Sir John, 166
,, Sir Thomas, 171, 195
Cokefeld, John de, 208
Cokehill, 147
Cokendale, 249
Coket, Francis, 129
Coking", Richard, 139
Cokker, 101
Cokkyes, 130
Colchester, 284
Cold Norton, 259
Cole, the, 267
Colebrook, 72, 183, 186, 187, 190, 195,
197, 201, 203
Coleshill, 267
Collam, John, 271
Colleshull, Robert, 343
Collinson's History of Somerset, 329, 335
"Collvng," 50, 163
Collyweston, 252, 253
Colne, 104, 105
Colombieres, Matthew de, 245, 288
Colson, John, 123 •
Colt, a, 33
Columbarius, Matthew de, 52
Colville, Robert, 113
Colwick, 208
,, William, 208
Colvvych, William, 328
Colyn, William, 317
Common Law, the, 2
Compton, Thomas de, 260
Conet forest, 99
Coney, 26, 37
Conisborough Park, 76
Constable, Robert, 1 19
,, Sir Marmaduke, 119
Constitutiones de Foresta, 4
Cook, William, 192
Cookham, 295
Cope, Sir John, 81
Copleston, John, 343
Coptre, 235
Copulas, 206
Coquet, 87, 88, 90
Corbet, John, 148
Corby, 237, 242, 248, 255
Corfe Castle, 331
Corkley, 187, 188
Cornbury Park, 85, 261
Cornet, Agnes, 243
Cornhill, William, 287
" Cornilw," 168
Cornwall, Duchy of, 167, 346
,, Edmund, Earl of, 291, 342
,, Richard, ,, 243, 342
Corston, 225
Cossham, 322
Corviser, Ralph le, 185
Coterell, Warner, 158
Cotterstock, 247
Cottingham, 248
Cotton, 235
,, Collection, the, 59
Coucher Book, the, 35, 116
Court Thorn, 95
Courtenay, Philip de, 338
,, Thomas de, 338
Country Contentments, 64
Coveham, 288
Coventry, 156
Cowhey, 166
Cowhouse Lane, 186, 199
Crab-apple, 73, 143, 197
Crakehall, John of, 269, 270
Cranborne Chase, 9, 31, 35, 37, 60, 61,
79, 81, 82, 84, 297, 299, 300
Crancumbe, George de, 259
Crawlev, 31 1
Crayke, 128
Creditor), 340
Cressebien, Richard, 330
Crepping, Richard de, 88, 92, 100, 209,
277- 330
Crich, 193
,, Chase, 190
Cricklade, 325
,, hospital, 60
Criel, Nicholas de, 243
Croft, Roger de, 101
Cromwell, Lord, 129, 130
,, Oliver, 142
,, Thomas, 296
Crooke, Sir Henry, 263
,, Sir John, 263
,, Unton, 263
Cropton, 1 18
Cross, 185, 186, 187
Crossbow, 252-3, 255
Cross Cliff, 45, 1 1 8, 122
Crossing, Mr. William, 348
Crowford bridge, 293
INDEX
355
Croyland, 249
Croxall, 155
Croxteth park, 98
Croxton, 206
Cruce, Robert de, 138
Cruchell, 160
Crumbwell, John de, 93
Culbone, 336
Cumberland forest, 90-5
Cumberland, Jefferson's, 95
Cumnor, 257
Curson, Francis, 196
,, Henry, 213
,, Richard, 311, 323
Curte Clarke, 169
Curzon, John, 200
,, Richard, 155
,, William, 155
Dacra, William de, 93
Dalby, 108
Dallowe, Mr., 80
Dalton, John, 111, 114, 115
Dama vulgar is, 26
Damericii canes, 49
Daniel, John, 161, 165
Darley abbey, 13, 69
,, Dale, 153
Darrell, family, 326
Dart meet, 345
Dartmoor forest, 2, 8, 22, 24, 41, 43, 44,
53. l67> 340-8
Datchet, 290
Daubeny, Lord, 338
Davenport, Richard, 136
Day, Thomas, 193
Daye, Richard, 299
Daxsholt, 104
Dean, An Historical and Descriptive
Account of the Forest of, 274
Dean, The Personalities of the Forest of,
234
Dean forest, 8, 13, 20, 30, 31, 66, 71, 85,
229, 230, 274-82
Debenham, John of, 270
,, Michal, 270
De Cableicio, 7
Defeodo, 101
Deepdale, 121, 234
Dear-hays, 59
• Deer-brouse, 19, 255
Deer-leaps, 56
Deer, list of, 76-7
Derby, 33, 184, 200
Derbyshire, forest, 98, 99, 102, 103
Delamere forest, 132, 134-5
" Derebrowse," 19, 255
" Derefal," 255
Dernhall abbey, 13
Derry Hill, 322
Derwent, the, 37, 125, 181, 184, 185, 186
Description of Leicestershire, 231
Descriptive List of the Deer Parks and
Paddocks of England, 85
Despencer, Hugh le, 1 10
Dettrick, John, 194
Devizes, 322, 323
Devyle, Rich, 272
Dickson, Carr, 74
Dieulacres abbey, 13, 158
Dig-by, Everard, 235, 236
,, Thomas, 248
Digge, Richard, 235
Dinting, 179
Dionysia, 114
Disafforestation, 6
Dispencer, Hugh, 206, 262
Dixon, Mr., 297
Doddington, 161
Doe, the, 25
Dole, 328
Domesday Survey, 4, 44, 136, 181, 204,
Done, family, 133 [232
,, Richard, 133, 135
Donnington, 184
Dorsetshire forests, 330-2
" Dottard oaks," 197
Doughty, Thomas, 195
Dove, Richard, 36
,, the, 32
Dovedale, 32
Doverbeck, 206
Doverhay, 336
Drag, 139
Draw, 139
Drayton, 147, 148
Henry, 245
,, Michael, 274
,, Ralph, 245
Dronfield Church, 154
Druscombe, 341
Dryden, Sir Henry, 50, 61, 64, 65, 66
Duffield, 69, 140, 181, 183
„ Castle, 182
,, Chase, 33
,, forest, 8, 9, 18, 24, 37, 39, 42,
43, 73, '89, 190. '91, 197,
198, 199, 200, 2OI, 2O2
,, Frith (forest), 2, 8, 9, 13, 16, 27,
28, 37, 39, 4°, 42, 53, 54, 57.
58, 59, 69, 72, 74, 77, 181-203
Dulverton, 336, 337
Dunbridge, 344, 345
Duncan, Lord, 282
Dunbryge, 344
Dunnabridge, 344, 346
Dunyton, 206
Durham, 126
,, Cathedral, 197
,, forest, 96-7
Dykes, Richard, 95
Dynham, John, 338
356
INDEX
Easingwold, forest of, 7, 127, 129
East Grinstead, 301
Easthampstead, 296
Eastlegh, Wilkin of, 224
Easton, 244
Easton wood, 74
Ebbeston, 116
Ebisham, 288
Eblebourn, 313
Ecclesburn, the, 185, 186, 189
Edale, 33, 43, 150, 166, 173, 177
Eddington, 255
Eddisbury, 133
Eden, the, 91
Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, 100, 102,
137. 181
Edward I., 3, 8, 20, 33, 35, 49, 52, 91,
126, 152, 162-3, 181, 214, 246
,, II., 30, 52-3, 93, 1 08, 1 10, in,
128, 212
III., 22, 38, 6l, I IO
IV., 20, 37
VI., 73
the Black Prince, 132
the Confessor, 5, 267, 336
Duke of York, 61, 62, 64
Edwin, Mr. Chas., 282
Edwinstowe, 14, 212, 215, 218
Egbert, 4
Egginton, John, 193
Egham, 288, 293
Egham Walk, 79
Ela, Countess of Warwick, 262
Elder, 68, 73
Eleanor, Queen, 228, 261, 315
Elizabeth, 73, 297
Ellerton, prior of, 57, 60
Ellis, Mr. W. S., 302
Elm, 68, 73
Elmedon, Walter de, 146
Elton, Master, 194
Eltonheved, Richard de, 102
Ely, 115
Elynton, Ivo de, 160
Emborne, the, 266
Empington bridge, 235
Empson, Richard, 253
,, Mr., 122
Emson, Richard, 330
Enfield Chase, 78-81
,, Great Park, 78
Engaine Warner, 155, 158-9
English Dogges, 48
English and Scottish Popular Ballads,
204
Epping forest, 29, 40, 46, 85, 283, 286
„ Walk, 78
Equitium, 160
Erdeswyk, Thomas de, 135
Erdinton, Thomas de, 224
Eresby, 208
Ermynthwait, 93
Escat, Richard le, 91
Eslington, 36
Essex forest, 34, 41, 43-4, 47, 69, 78,
283-6
Essex, the Forest of, 283
Essoins, the, n, 112, 306
Est, Richard, 271
Esturney, Adam, 341
Eton, 262
Eure, William le, 115
Evelyn, 71, 210, 222
Everard, John, 338
Everingham, Adam de, 205, 214
,, John de, 205
,, Robert de, 37, 205, 206,
207, 209, 214
Evermuth, Beatrice de, 206
,, Walter de, 206
Evesham, 228, 234
,, Hugh de, 146
Ewerby, John, 311
Ewyas, Richard of, 245, 246
Exford, 336
Exmoor forest, 2, 8, 30, 53, 85, 333-8,
341. 346
Exploration of Dartmoor, 340
Eyam, 166
Eynsham, 262
Eyre, Edward, 173
,, forest, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
,, Robert, 174, 175
Eyries of hawks and falcons, 38
Eyton's Shropshire, 224, 226
Fairfax, Guy, 119
Fairfield, 153
Fairlop Oak, 286
Falcon, 38
Faldage, 248
Faldagium, 345
Fall of Needivood , The, 145
Fallow deer, 25, 26, 27
Farley, 311, 324
,, Hall, 200
Farnborough, 289
Farndale, 114, 125
Farnham, Nicholas de, 260
Fauconburg, Sir John de, 109, no
Faversham, 288
Fawn, 28
Feckenham forest, 7, 149, 226, 227, 228,
229
" Fee-trees," 70
Felsted, 284
Fence month, 14, 19, 41, 59-61, 94, 103,
326
Fenie Wood, 295
Fennes, William de, 314
Fenton, 166
,, Christopher, 129
INDEX
357
Fermisona, 50
Fermyng, 252
Fernditch Walk, 84
Feme, Richard, 200
Ferrars, Thomas de, 134
Ferrers, family, 137, 183
,, Henry de, 181
,, Robert, Earl of, 33, 60, 161,
162, 181
,, Sir Humphrey, 200
,, William de, 154, 155
Feta, 28
Feton, 28
Feudal History of Derbyshire, 28, 29
Fewterer, the, 53
Filthycroft, 319
Finchampstead, 295, 296
Finchford, 235
Findern, William de, 160
Fines Villarum, 347
Fineshead, 249
Finmere forest, 7
Firebote, 68
Fisher, Mr., 5, 43, 286
Fitz-Giles, Nicholas, 188
-Godfrey, Richard, 163
-Nicholas, Ralph, 155, 159, 258
,, Thomas, 163
Nigel, John, 160
Osborn, WTilliam, 225
Peter, Walter, 314
Ralph, John, 186
-Reinfred, Gilbert, 99
Stephen, Ralph, 205
Fitzherbert, John, 172, 194
,, Justice, 142
,, Peter, 107
Fitzhugh, John, 225
Fitzstephen, 71
Fitzwarren, 338
Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 295, 296
Flagg, 178
Flaxley Abbey, 71, 275, 276, 278, 280
Fleming, Stephen, 213
Fletcher, William, 95
Fletching-, 301
Flitteris, 235
Foix, Gaston de, 50, 61, 65
Foljambe, Cecily, 165
Godfrey, 194
Henry, 164
John, 158
Roger, 158
Thomas, 33, 160, 161, 164
William, 163, 164
Folksworth, 270
Folowe, Robert, 172, 173
Folyot, Richard, 208
Fool, John the, 325
Ford, Robert de, 289
Forde, Thomas, 293
Foregate, the, 228
Forest Agistments, 41-6
Forest-and-Frith, 96
,, Charter. See Charter of the
Forest
" Forest Districts," 5
,, eyres, 10
,, Inquisitions, 15
,, Law, 2, 4, 5
,, Officers, 17-24
Forest Pleas, 2, 16, 25, 29, 70, 92, 227,
234> 237> 268> 269> 284
Forest Quarter, 96
,, Ridge, 301
Forest Scenery, 73, 305
Foresta de Lancaster, 98
Forestarii equitii, 20
Foresters, 19-22
Foresters-of-fee, 20, 21, 33, 105
Forestry and the New Forest, 304
Forests, list of, 6
Forges, Itinerant, 8, 275
Forty-day Court, 14
Fosbroke's Record of Gloucestershire,
274
Foster, William, 318
Fotheringhay, 249, 251, 253
Foucher, Cicely, 190
,, Robert, 190
Fouilloux, Jacques du, 64
Foulbridge, 116
Fountains, 122
" Fowl of the Forest," 26
Fox, the, 3, 25, 26, 33, 34-5
Foxlove, John, 118
" Foxtrees," 251, 252
Frank, Geoffrey, 128
Franketon, David de, 52, 53
Freeman, Professor, 4
Freemantle forest, 7
Free-warren, 3
Freford, 34
Frely, Robert, 188
Fretham, Hugh, 171
Frimley, 293
Frodsley, 225
Frost, William, 311
Fuklyn, Giles, 140
,, John, 140
Fuller, 280
Fulwood forest, 44, 98, 99, 102, 103, 117
Furches forest, 7
Furness, abbot of, 102
Furnival, Thomas de, 155, 160, 161, 162,
163
Galtres forest, 9, 39, 76, 125-30, 208
Gardiner, Roger, 264
Gatesgill, 93
Gaunter, Alan le, 246
Gauntlett, Thomas, 320
358
INDEX
Gaystall, 93, 94, 95
Gazehound, 50
Geddington, 240, 252, 255, 256
Gedling-, John, 191
Geese, 154
Gelet, Richard, 239
Cell, Sir John, 180
Genn, William, 246
Gentil, John le, 100
,, William, 104
Gentleman's Recreation, 64
George Inn, Forster's Booth, 66
Gernet, Benedict, 99
,, Roger, 99
Gervase de Bernake, 33
Giffbrd, John, 228, 247
Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, 177
Gilbewin, Geoffrey, 239
Gillingham, 330-1, 332
Gilpin, William, 73, 305
Gladwin, John, 220
Glossop, 150, 151, 154, 156, 177
Gloucester, 275, 276
,, Humphrey, Duke of, 248
,, Thomas ,, 280
Goathland, 117, 118,. 122
Goats, 24, 45-6
Goband, John, 155, 156, 159
Godalming, 310
Godbradshawe, 177
Godstowe, 259
Gomfrey, Adam, 152, 154, 161, 165
,, Richard, 154
,, Thomas, 154
Good, Mr. Henry, 82
Goodrych, William, 214
Goodwyn, William, 330
Gorges, Eleanor de, 338
,, Ralph de, 338
Gorse, 68
Goscote, 235
Gould, E. T., 220
Gower, John, 118
Grafton Park, 78, 79, 296
,, Robert of, 243, 245
,, Thomas of, 243
Gray, Sir Reginald, 235, 248, 252, 253,
292, 330
,, Richard de, 323
Great Casterton bridge, 235
,, Dean, 277
,, Malvern, 227
,, Oakley, 242, 248
,, Park, 299, 300
Gredleye, Jphn de, 102
Gredling Park, 76
" Green hue," 69
Greendale Oak, 222
Greenthwaite, 94
Gregory, Ralph, 190
Grendon, John, 345
Grenehill, John, 280
Grenerigg, Elias de, 92
,, William de, 92
Grenleng, Robert, 246
Gresham, Richard, 169
Gresley, Alan, 155
,, Peter de, 164
,, Thomas, 155, 192
,, William, 194
Gretton, 248, 255
,, Thomas de, 161
Greves forest, 132
Grey, John de, 155, 156, 158, 159, 213
Greyhounds, 3, 35, 47-8, 50, 104, 241
Greytree, 229
Grim, Roger, 239
Grimston, 208
Grindsbrook Booth, 166
Groby, 231
Grosvenor family, 133
Groveley forest, 315, 316, 317, 318, 328-9
Grueythwaite, 94
Grymstede, John de, 314
Grynley park, 76
" Guarys," 271
Guildford, 38, 42, 58, 288, 289, 290, 292,
293» 295> 296, 298
Gurdun, Adam, 277, 310
Guy, huntsman, 108
Gvvash, the, 235
Gyffard, John, 146, 147
Gylse, 90
Gynet, Ingebram, 101
Hacche, Eustace de, 208
Hackness, 113, 114
Haddon, 192
Haericii canes, 49
Hagley, 149
Hainault, 283, 286
Haldane, Nicholas, 109
Halghton, Thomas de, 104
Hall, Richard, 169
Halmote, 104
Halter, a, 58, 59
Hambledon, 311
Hamburg, Henry de, 102
Hamelake, 118
Hamfordshoe, 248
Hamilton, Ralph, 155
Hamond, John, 311
Hampshire, the forests of, 304-12
Hamorton Dale, 252
Hampstead, 314
Hampton Court, 296
,, Robert, 36, 113
Hanborough Walter de, 306
Hanbury, 80, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142,
H5
,, John de, no
Hanger, Richard atte, 306
INDEX
359
Hanslope, 245, 246
,, John of, 246
,, Simon of, 245
Hansted, Maria, 53
Harbela, John de, 93
Hardegill, Edward, 263
Hardwick Park, 85
Hardy, Roger, 36
Hare, the, 3, 25, 26, 30, 33, 34, 35-6,
332
Harevvin's mill, 235
Harland, 98
Harleruding, 245
Harly, John, 193
Harnham Bridge, 61
Harpsford, 292
Harrey, Thomas de, 101
Harriers, 49
Harrop, 104
Hart, the, 25, 50
Hartfield, 301
Harting, 32
Hartington, 32, 162, 188
,, William, Marquis of, 144
Hartley, 268
Hartoft, 118
Harwood, 96
Haslebache, 179
Haslewood, Thomas, 248
Hassop, 179
Hastings, Edward, Lord, 174, 235, 236
,, Edmund de, no, 113, 120
,, Ralph de, no, 112, 113, 115
,, Roger, 119, 120, 121, 122
,, Sir William, 109, 168, 215
Hatfield, 219, 283
,, Chase, 130
,, Regis, 284
Hathelakestan, Hasculf de, 233
Hathersage, 57, 151
,, Matthew de, 57
Hatheway, Ralph, 277
Hatton, Mr. George Finch, 255
Haugh Rise, 1 15
Haughdale, 113
Havering forest, 7, 31, 258, 283, 284
Hawk, 26, 38
Hawkridge, 336, 337
Hay, Henry del, 186
Haybote, 68, 69
§ Haydock, Richard de, 135
Hayfield, 177, 179
Haygrove, 279
Hay ward, John, 128
Haywood, 222
Haxby, 129
Hazel, 68, 73, 74
Hazelwood, 186, 198
Heade, Walter atte, 344
Headington, 263, 264
Heage, 33, 191, 193, 198
Hebbe, 164
Heeson, John, 89
Helot, John, 190
Helsley, 131
Hemingborough, 119
Heneage, Sir Thomas, 296
Hengham, Ralph de, 147
Henley, 292
,, Brother William de, 160
Henley-in-the-Heath, 294
Henrietta Maria, Queen, 125
Henry I., 31, 257
II., 5, 9, n, 33, 41, 60, 71, 95,
99, 154, 267
,, III., 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 34, 36, 41, 46,
49, 60, 88, 99, loo, 108, 125,
137, 162, 244, 325, 331
,, IV., 128, 181, 191
„ VI., 128
,, VII., 7, 30, 106, 118, 120, 132,
168, 294, 307
,, VIII , 73, 89, 123, 142, 170, 172,
!95. 295> 296
,, Earl of Lancaster, 102
,, Lord Percy, 30
,, the Fowler of Barugh, 39
Hereditary foresters-of-fee, 20
Herons, 39, 302
Herpesford, 290
Hesket, 93, 95
Heyden, William, 324
Heyes, Ralph of, 245
Heyrae, Henry de, 314
High Forest, the, 206, 207
,, Lindes, 138
,, Lynns, 141
,, Peak forest. See Peak forest
Higliam Ferrers park, 79
Highlands, 142
Hillulidgate, 127
Hilton, 96, 174
Hinton, Hulle of, 224
Hippingscomb, 327
Historical Recollections for a History of
Staffordshire, 146
History of Tarn-worth, 140
Hoar Lynte, 72, 141
Hoare's Wiltshire, 322, 329
Hodleston, 104
Hog, Robert le, 134
Hoghton, Henry de, 104
,, Richard de, 103
Hog's Back, 290
Holand, Robert de, 54, 187
Holbrok, Richard de, 246
Holbrook, 191, 193, 198
Holcot, John, 251
Holes, Roger, 318
Holland forest, 105
,, Henry, Earl of, 309
Hollingworth, Robert, 170
360
INDEX
Hollinhead forest, 74
Hollinsclough, 166
Holly, 68, 73, 74
Holm, 119
Holmcoltram, 92
Holmeby Park, 79
Holnicote, 336
Holn Park, 90
Holton, Richard of, 224
Honey. See Bees
Honor of Peverel, the, 150, 151
Hood, Robin, 204
Hook, John atte, 289
Hooton, 132
Hope, 150, 151, 152, 153
,, Bowdler, 225
,, Mr. Beresford, 32
Hopedale, 151, 152, 166
Hopemaloysel, 279
Hopping, 37
Mill, 37, 38
,, Weir, 37
Horewell, 226, 227
Horewood forest, 7
Hornbeam, 68, 73
Hornedroare, 295
Home's Town of Pickering, 43
Horse-breaking, 160, 165
Horsell, 293
Horsenden, William de, 155, 159, 160
Horses, 23, 24, 43-4
Horston forest, 7
Hotham, John, 119, 122
Hotherinde, John, 134
Hoton, William, 94
Hough, 1 88
Houghton, Benjamin, 80
,, Simon, 270
Houle, Ralph, 343
Hound, 33
" Houndgeld," 47
Hounds and Hunting, 47-67
Housebote, 68, 69
How Park, 80
Howard, Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, 325
Howl Hill, 230
Huby, 127, 129
Hucklow, 159
Hudham, Nicholas de, 88
Hughson, Colonel, 180
Hulland, 39, 54, 183, 186, 187, 190, 191,
192. '93. J94. '95. J97> !98> J99> 2O3
Hulleson, John, 187
Hundred Rolls, the, 33
Hungayth, Ralph, 129
" Hungell," 47
Hungerford, Nicholas de, 54
,, Robert de, no
Hunt, Richard le, 165
Hunter, Nicholas, 95
Hunters, 81
Hunting costumes, 64-7
Hunting treatises, 61-4
Huntingdon, 128
Huntingdonshire forest, 268-73
Hurdum, Captain David, 180
Hurst, Peter del, 157
Hutchins, Mr., 31, 82, 84
Hutchin's History of Dorset, 330, 332
Hutchinson, Mr. Horace G., 304, 305
Hutton Bushell, 40, 45
Huttun, Sheriff, 128
Hyde Park, 78
Hyend, William, 213
Hyett, George, 280
Hyling Park, So
Ibote, no
Idridgehay, 186, 191, 198
Ifwood forest, 7
Ightenhill, 104
Ilchester, 335, 336, 337
Ilger, John, 271
Illingworth, Ralph, 194
Inbounds, 9
Incelemor wood, 96
Ingebram family, 101
Ingenia, 34
Ingham, 65
,, Oliver de, 132
,, Oliver, tomb of, 65
Inglehard, John, 290
Inglesham, 267
Inglewood forest, 22, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94,
95
Inkel, Thomas, 239
Inkpen, 266
Inlodges, 9, 321
In lupariis, 33
" In mercy," 12
Inquests, 15
Instaur de Duff eld, 188
Insula, Brian de, 155, 159
Ireton, John, 194
,, Wood, 198
Iron smelting, 3, 8, 198
Isabel of Clifford, 56
Isabella, Queen, 93, 132
Isham, Robert, 251
Ispannia, Alphonsus, 261
,, James de, 261
Itinerant forges, 8
luelhering, Ralph, 245, 246
Ivetanfield, 93
Ivy Church, 38, 41, 318
Jackson, Thomas, 190
James I., 32, 177, 297
,, Earl of Northampton, 80
Jefferson, 95
Jenynges, John, 129
Jesson, William, 201
INDEX
361
John, King-, 6, 8, 9, 29, 31, 34, 49, 90,
95, 99, 100, 107, 221, 223, 224, 275
John, huntsman, 108
John of Lexington, 37
Johnson, Robert, 252
,, Thomas, 173, 200
Journal of Forestry, 228
Juniper, 68
Justice Seat, the, 151, 152, 254, 318
Katharine of Braganza, 95
Kaye, Richard, 196
Kedleston park, 85
Kelly, William, 344
Kemble, 4
Kenilworth, 54, 189, 236
Kennet, the, 266, 267
Kettering-, 255
Kevelioc, Hugh, Earl of Chester, 136
Keynsham forest, 7
Kidderminster, 149
Kidkirk, 95
Kildale, 112
Killamarsh, 153
Kilpeck forest, 7
Kilvington, John de, 108, 109, 110, in,
"5
Kings Delph, 271
Kingscliff, 46, 240, 252
Kingsley of Kingsley, 133
,, Ralph de, 133
Kingsmead Priory, 13
Kingstag bridge, 332
Kingston, 333
,, family, 280
Kingswood, 283
Kingthorpe, 120
Kinlet, 225, 226
Kinneton, Henry de, 260
Kinver, 9, 145, 148-9, 223
Kinwardstone, 326
Kirkby, 212, 219
,, Robert de, 212
Knaresborough forest, 80, 130
Knight, John, 339
,, Stephen, 345
,, William, 31 1
Kniveton, John, 192
,, Nicholas, 193, 194, 195
,, William, 200
. Knolls, Richard, 172
Knossington, 233, 235
Kynthorp, Petronilla de, 1 10
Lacock, 323, 324
Lacio, Nicholas de, 277
Lacy, Ada, 90, 91
,, Alice de, 98
,, family, 98
,, Gilbert de, 313
,, Reginald, 90
Lady Park of Belper, 183, 194
Ladyshaw Wood, 193
Lancashire, Baine's, 98
Lancashire forests, 20, 22, 74, 98-106
Lancester, 98, 101, 102
,, Castle, 74, 100, 101, 102
,, Duchy of, 35, 59, 70, 80, 98,
137, 150, 166, 167, 169, i8i|
302
,, Henry, Earl of, 112, 113
,, John, Duke of, 190
,, Thomas, Earl of, 98, 109,
tip, 113
,, William de, 96
Langdon, 118, 122
Langesdon, Mathew de, 157
Langford, Ralph, 193
Langham, 235
Langlandebroke, 101
Langley, Geoffrey, 206, 243
,, John de, 262
,, Thomas de, 31, 258, 259, 261
Langport, 336, 337
Langton, Robert, 233
Langwith Bridge, 213
Lansdowne, Marquis of, 324
Lanthony, 258
Lardiner, David le, 126
,, Philip le, 126
Lark, 26
Lascelles, Hon. G. W. , 304, 305
Lascy, Matilda de, 96
,, Walter de, 275
Later Forest History, 76-86
Latimer, William, 117, 215
Launde Priory, 13
La Venerie, 64
Laverstoke, 314, 322
,, Jordan de, 314
" Lawing," 47
Lawson, Sir George, 129
Laxpeniard wood, 277
Laying, Ralph, 139
Layrthorpe Bridge, 128
Laythegryme, 105
Leach, Peter de, 160
Lead smelting, 3, 198
Leake, Thomas, 217
Leche, Sir Philip, 191
" Le Cowhouse," 190
Lee, Nicholas de, 100
,, Randall, 169
Leek forest, 136
Leen, 206
Lees, Mr. Edwin, 228
Legh, Reginald de, 147
,, Sir William de, 135
Leghe, Thomas, 194
Le Haw, 235
Leicester Abbey, 13
,, Roger de, no
362
INDEX
Leicester, William of, 269
Leicestershire and Rutland forests,23i-6
Leighfield forest, 235
Leland, 96, 227, 330
Lench, Peter de, 277
Lenta, the, 266, 267
Lenton, 13, 29, 158, 214, 220
Lepers, 101, 243
Leporarius, 47
Lestrange, Robert, 131
„ Roger, 147, 160
Levere, William, 1 1 1
Lewisham woods, 38, 113, 119
Lewes, 234
,, battle of, 162
Lewknor, Geoffrey de, 269
Lexington, Robert de, 155, 156, 158, 159
Lichfield, 147, 148, 156, 287
Likenfield Park, 76
Lilleshall Abbey, 13, 158, 166
Lime, 68, 71-2, 118, 141
Limehound, 48, 50
Linby, 14
Lincoln, 206-8, 212
Linde, Thos. de la, 332
,, John ,, 332
,, Walter ,, 332
Lindley, 206, 212, 215
Lindsay, Robt. of, 246
Lion, Peter de, 224
Lisburn, Lord, 81
Litchfield, John, 220
Little Dean, 277
Eye, the, 235
Hucklow, 1 80
Malvern, 227
Oakley, 248
Park, the, 253, 297
Weldon, 255
Litton, 1 80
Livre de Chasse, 61, 64
London, 39
,, Sir Walter de, 39
Long, Thos., 323
Longcombe, 337
Longdendale, 150-2, 154, 163, 177
Longford, Sir Ralph, 172, 194-5
Longley Park, 185, 188
Lonsdale forest, 98-100, 102-4
Loretti, Centisse, 148
Lough, Edm., 325
Loughborough, 174, 206
Loughton, 283
Lovel, John, 261
Lovet, John, 242
Lowe, Anthony, 195
„ Thos., 195
Lowick, 243, 246
,, Alan of, 245
„ Hugh of, 245
Lovvnde, Richard, 253
Lowton Walk, 78-9
Luccombe, 336
,, Phil de, 337
Lucy, Geof. de, 261
Ludworth, 166
Lune, the, 74
Lusignan, Aymer de, 243
Lutericii canes, 49
Luttrell, Sir John, 330
Lyddington, 236
Lydekker, 32
Lydford, 340-6
Lyme forest, 136
Lymers, 48, 50, 63
Lyndhurst, 305-6, 315
Lynne, Will, 248
Lysle, Sir Nicholas, 327-8
Lyveden, 243
Macclesfield forest, 136
Magnus, Thomas, 123
Maiden Bradley, 329
Maidstonfeld, 177
Maidwell, the, 247
,, Sir Alan, 243
Mainour, 14
Makeney, 198
Malmesbury, William of, 257
"Malloesot" bridge, 290
Malpas, David, 250, 253
,, Edmund, 248
Malton, prior of, 57, 60, 1 16
Malvern forest, 226, 227, 228
Manley, Peter de, 112, 113
,, jun., Peter de, 36
Manners, Sir John, 177
Manneser, John, 109
Mansell, 183, 187, 188, 191, 192, 193,
194, 195, 200, 201
Mansergh, Roger, 1 1 1
Mansfield, 14, 37, 66, 204, 212, 215, 216,
220
Mantravers, John, 306
Ma 
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